COMMITTEE ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Further to my letter (No. 1853/03.02/AP/EA of 8 July 1992) transmitting to you the initial report of Rwanda on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, I have the honour to submit herewith information supplementing document CRC/C/8/Add.1, as established by the Committee at its third session held from 14 to 18 December 1992.
I. GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES
1. (a) The Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified on 19 September 1990 by Presidential Decree No. 773/16. In the hierarchy of Rwandese legal norms, the law takes second place to the Constitution. Thus, an international convention, once ratified, becomes part of Rwandese law, and takes second place to the Constitution.
(b) When the Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified, it was not necessary to amend Rwandese legislation to ensure its implementation.
(c) Upon ratification, an international convention becomes part of Rwandese domestic law. It thus becomes binding on everyone, and can be invoked before the Rwandese courts.
3. When the Convention was signed in October 1990, a summary of its contents was broadcast on national radio. The instrument ratifying the Convention is Act No. 773/16 of 19 September 1990. In addition, the Ministry for the Family and the Advancement of Women, whose responsibilities include the protection of children, has publicized the Convention through seminars, speeches - notably on the International Day of the Child - radio broadcasts, etc. Lastly, UNICEF is collaborating with the Government of Rwanda in publicizing the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
M/CRC/C (Future)
GE.93-19833 (E)
4. Wide publicity for these reports will be ensured by making them available for consultation at all times. However, financial support has to be requested for publication of a brochure relating to the implementation of the above Convention.
II. DEFINITION OF THE CHILD
1. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as every human being below the age of 18 years. It does not specify when a child is considered to be a child. However, Rwandese law goes much further. As soon as it is conceived, a child enjoys civil rights, on condition that it is born alive.
In addition, under Rwandese legislation, a minor is any individual of either sex who has not yet reached the age of 21. Thus, Rwandese law is broader in scope than the Convention as far as the definition of the child is concerned.
2. The interest of a merely conceived child can be involved when, for example, there is a question of inheriting property either from its father or mother, or of seeking to establish paternity when the child is born out of wedlock, etc.
Court decisions in the matter exist, but examples are not very numerous.
3. (a) To have access to employment, a child must be at least 18 years of age. Failing this, express authorization from the person exercising parental authority over the child is required. The Minister responsible for labour matters may also authorize the employment of persons under 14 years of age, exceptionally and on a temporary basis, taking into account the particular circumstances of the occupation or the situation of the persons concerned (Labour Code instituted by the Act of 28 February 1968, art. 24).
(b) Criminal responsibility is incurred when the child is between 14 and 18 years of age at the time of the offence. If the offence committed is punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment, the child will be sentenced to 10 to 20 years' imprisonment. if the penalty for the offence is imprisonment or a fine, the sentence imposed may not exceed one half of the penalties the child would have incurred if he had been 18 years of age (Penal Code instituted by Decree-Law No. 21/77 of 18 August 1977).
(c) The minimum age for enlisting in the armed forces is 16 years, and the maximum 24 years.
(d) In order to contract a marriage, both the man and the woman must be over 21. Below this age, however, the Minister of Justice or his deputy may waive the age requirement if there are compelling reasons for so doing (Act No. 42/1988 of 27 October 1988 containing the Preliminary Title and Book One of the Civil Code, art. 171).
4. All children are equal before the law.
III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. (a) In addition to suffering the poverty experienced by Rwandese children generally, the majority of girls remain illiterate, and suffer a certain degree of discrimination where education and access to family resources are concerned. In the past, this factor was due to the ignorance of the parents, who wanted to keep girls at home so that they could help with the housework.
(b) For a Rwandese, children are sacred, which explains the high birth rate. For poor parents, entirely without resources, a child represents a heavy burden. With regard to the best interests of the child, these interests are taken into account when the court is required to rule in cases of divorce or separation of spouses and where the child's inheritance of the property of its parents is involved.
(c) Respect for the opinions of the child is a concept that has recently been introduced into Rwandese legislation following ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
2. (a) To date, no death penalty has been imposed on children under 18 years of age. Should the courts ever have come to impose such a penalty, it would have been commuted to imprisonment on grounds of mitigating circumstance such as age, application for pardon, etc. In 90 per cent of parricide cases, the death penalty commuted to imprisonment is handed down.
(b) Child mortality rate:
A National Action Plan for the Survival, Protection and Development of the Child has already been drawn up (cf. Ministry of Planning, September 1992). On this point, reference should be made to the National Social Action Programme prepared following the grant of a development credit of 19 million SDRs for financing the "food Security and Social Action" project, signed in Washington on 12 August 199 between Rwanda and the International Development Association (IDA). The objectives of this Plan focus on the points listed in the following table.
stage 1997
child mortality
rate
children under
5 years of age
population with
access to
drinking water
sanitation
coverage
III. EDUCATION AND LITERACY
school attendance
rate of children
aged 7 to 14 from
62% to 70%
overall
illiteracy
from 39% to 35%
children
belonging to
vulnerable groups
known
be carried out
and acted upon
updating of data
departments
responsible for
the protection
and advancement
of the child
Family and the
Advancement of
Women
human resources
to be made
available
Operators to be
trained
training
public and private institutions and
for local
communities in
solving problems
relating to the legal
status and
social welfare of children
assistance in
kind to be
assembled, and a
body providing
legal assistance
to be set up
(c) The obligation of children to provide food is an obligation, in the general sense, since children capable of so doing are the ones who have easy access to employment and have completed their studies. In short, it is children over 18 and 21 years of age who are obliged to provide food for their parents and ascendants.
VI. CIVIL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
1. Right to a name
Parents have a legal obligation to give their children a name, and for children the right to a name is an inalienable right. Any change of name must be authorized, if there are sufficient grounds for such a change, by the Minister of Justice on receipt of an application from the bearer of the name.
Right to a nationality
Rwandese nationality is granted to every person born of a Rwandese father and whose possession of Rwandese citizenship is established. Possession of Rwandese citizenship consists in continually and publicly behaving as a citizen of Rwanda, and continually and publicly being treated as such by the authorities and people of that country (cf. Code of Rwandese Nationality, art. 1).
Right to an identity
An individuals identity consists in being obliged to bear a name and in having a known residence and domicile (cf. Act No. 42/1988 of 27 October 1988, containing the Preliminary Title and Book One of the Civil Code).
3. Preservation of identity, freedom of expression, access to information, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of association and peaceful assembly and protection of privacy are fundamental human rights which are enshrined in the Constitution of the Rwandese Republic as amended and supplemented by the Arusha Agreement of 4 August 1993. Accordingly, no one may infringe these rights.
4. The concept of torture was introduced into Rwandese domestic law following ratification by the Government of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This Convention can therefore be invoked by anyone at any time before the Rwandese courts. It has thus become a supplement to the Rwandese Penal Code.
The Convention against Torture has been publicized via the national radio, which amounts to a campaign to prevent torture. Individuals found guilty of torture are punishable by law.
V. FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND ALTERNATIVE CARE
(a) The family in Rwanda is a kind of conjugal community consisting of man, woman and children (Rwandese Civil Code, art. 206).
(b) Children born out of wedlock are legitimized by the subsequent marriage of their father and mother, if such children are legally recognized by them or if recognition is the result of a court order. Legitimized children have the same rights and obligations as children of a regular and legal marriage (cf. Rwandese Civil Code, arts. 318 and 323).
(c) Adoption is permitted when the grounds for it are justified and if it offers advantages for the adopted person. Adopted children retain the names and surnames they were given at birth. They have the same rights and the same obligations as the children of their adoptive parent, except in certain cases provided for by law (cf. Rwandese Civil Code, arts. 332, 337 and 339).
(d) Custody of children is awarded to the spouse who was granted the separation, unless the court, either by its own decision or at the request of one of the spouses or of the Public Prosecutor, orders that custody of all or some of them should be awarded either to the other spouse or to a third party in the best interests of the children. The court will decide to award custody of the children to whichever spouse has the most resources, whether in the material or the moral sense. Custody of children cannot be awarded to an insane person or to a person whose conduct is undesirable. Thus, where custody of children is concerned, the decision is guided by the best interests of the child.
(e) Adoption procedure is defined in articles 340, 341 and 342 of Act No. 42/1988 of 27 October 1988 containing the Preliminary Title and Book one of the Rwandese Civil Code. Our country has no regulations governing international adoption.
(f) Children in difficult situations, such as street children or orphans, are taken in care by orphanages throughout the country or by non-profit-making organizations which are legally recognized either under Rwandese law or under foreign law (non-governmental organizations), legally established in Rwanda, and have as their main objective the protection of children.
VI. HEALTH AND WELFARE
2. (a) Measures taken to ensure that no child is deprived of the right of access to healthcare services
Health Policy in Rwanda
Medicine in Rwanda is practised on a mass basis, giving priority to vulnerable groups, namely children, mothers and workers.
Organization of health services in Rwanda
Each commune has at least one health centre, which is designed to provide all the basic health care services. It is important to note that the health centre is the basis of the whole health services system.
Adoption of the primary health care strategy and philosophy
This strategy gives paramount importance to the health of the child, and emphasizes easy access to health care services.
Adoption and implementation of the Bamako Initiative or acceleration of primary health care
This Initiative is currently being applied in 80 per cent of all health centres. It advocates participation by the population in management of the health centre, as well as in programme, personnel, resource and financial management. It is the community itself which, inter alia, determines the criteria for defining poverty, and authorizes free health care for persons meeting those criteria.
(b) Existing network for health care in general, and primary health care in particular
General health care networks
First there is the community network: families, traditional healers, birth attendants and community health workers (family planning), infirmaries and doctors' surgeries.
Next comes the primary health care network. The health care system in Rwanda is organized in the form of a pyramid and is structured as follows:
(6) Specialized hospital (King Faisal Hospital)
(5) Referral hospital (CHK, University Hospital, Ruhengeri Hospital)
(4) Prefectural hospitals (in the main town of the prefecture)
(3) Rural hospitals (roughly covering a subprefecture)
(2) Health centres (at least one health centre per commune)
(1) Community network.
(c) Family Planning measures taken
A population policy is currently being implemented. This policy includes a significant demographic component, which indicates what action should be taken in the area of family planning. This action is now going forward.
A Ministry of Health Instruction (IM No. 779 of 3 March 1988) calls on health personnel at all levels (central, intermediate and peripheral) to regard family planning as a priority, and to act accordingly. Today, the family planning coverage rate is over 12 per cent, and 84 per cent of all health institutions offer family planning services.
(d) Measures taken for prenatal and Postnatal care for mothers
1. Health education
Promotion of healthy lifestyles in regard to hygiene, food, etc.
2. Prenatal consultations
The purpose of such consultations is to detect pregnancies which are at risk and to decide on their management (90 per cent of Rwandese women attend prenatal consultations).
3. Healthy deliveries
These are deliveries attended by qualified staff: 28 per cent take place in health institutions and 72 per cent at home, often with the assistance of traditional birth attendants, trained by the Ministry of Health.
4. Control of anaemia
Distribution of iron.
5. Control of illnesses due to iodine deficiency
Distribution of iodine and promotion of consumption of iodized salt.
6. Tetanus immunization
7. Family planning
8. Postnatal consultations
3. The situation of disabled children
The number of disabled children in Rwanda is not known. It has been estimated on the basis of data supplied by United Nations agencies, according to which 10 per cent of a given population are disabled persons.
Three quarters of these disabled persons live in rural areas, where opportunities for diagnosis and treatment are very limited. A very few are accommodated in privately-run centres, where they can benefit from services of various kinds. There are currently 16 centres and associations in Rwanda which are chiefly devoted to providing occupational rehabilitation and physical re-education. These are:
Association for the Welfare of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ABRSM)
Butare Centre for Young Deaf Mutes
Gahini Rehabilitation Centre
Gatagara Home of the Virgin of the Poor
St. Mary of Rilima Centre for the Disabled
Association for the Overall Development of Blind and other Disabled
Persons in Rwanda
Rwanda Faith and Light Community
Caraes Ndera
Unwana Nk'abandi Association
Integrated National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Control Programme (PNILT)
National Association for the Deaf in Rwanda
Manufacture Electronique et mécanique de Rwanda (MERA)
Société de Confection Rwandaise (SOCORWA)
"Friends of Abbé Fraipont" Association
General Association for the Disabled in Rwanda.
Government assistance for the disabled
The Government gives annual grants to these centres and associations for the disabled, and provides qualified staff, as well as a certain amount of basic infrastructure such as housing, etc.
Education
Since education in Rwanda is compulsory, disabled children are not denied access to schools. However, only those with disabilities of the lower limbs have the opportunity to attend certain educational institutions, and more of them go on to secondary education than children with other disabilities.
Preparation for employment
This is provided by vocational training. It should be noted that there is only one private school for laboratory assistants, which offers training for people with disabilities of the lower limbs. Others are trained in the manufacture of artificial limbs. The SOCORWA and MERA companies, which manufacture and repair radios, provide on-the-job training.
4. A social security system exists only for salaried workers. Farmers do not have such a system.
5. To what extent are the provisions of the Convention relating to the right to an adequate standard of living being applied?
The reply to this question is given in the table listing the various objectives of the National Action Plan for the Survival, Protection and Development of the Child (see tables I, II, III and IV, pp. 4 and 5).
It should be added that the Government spends 5 per cent of its annual budget on health care for mothers and children.
VII. EDUCATION
1. (a) See table V below.
(b) For the percentage of children at each level and the percentage of
girl students, see the following table:
V. EDUCATION IN RWANDA 1991 - 1992
Secondary school
General courses
Teacher-training courses
Technical courses
TOTAL
At secondary level, the percentage of girl students is 40 per cent.
(c) The cost of formal State education is borne by the Government.
Thus, the basic principle is free education at the primary level. At the secondary level, a small contribution to education expenses is levied at each stage, namely 11,000 francs. With the day-school system and implementation of the PAS, all these data have been modified.
(d) No measures are being taken to introduce free secondary education.
(e) Making parents aware of their responsibilities through meetings organized at the community level and imposing fines are some of the measures taken by the Government to ensure regular school attendance and to reduce school drop-out rates.
(f) Out of 1.3 million persons registered as illiterate, 302,000, or 25 per cent, are between 16 and 25 years of age.
(g) The minimum age for enrolment in primary school is 7 years.
(h) The comprehensive rural handicrafts instruction programme is designed to enable small craft cooperatives to be set up by young people.
2. (a) Human rights in general and the Convention on the Rights of the Child in particular are studied at secondary-school level (Law and Administration Section) and at the National University (Faculty of Law).
(b) The recently created National Reconciliation Programme, and initiatives to make parents more aware of their duty to give their children a
(b) Unlawful and arbitrary deprivation of liberty is a offence, the perpetrator of which is severely punished.
(c) Children who are in prison are treated humanely and respect for the dignity of the human person. They receive regu their parents and from non-governmental organizations such as I Federation Terre des Hommes, which has been operating in Rwanda Terre des Hommes also cares for street children, abandoned child orphans. Children in prison are also entitled to write to their friends.
(d) No Bar exists in Rwanda. Legal assistance can be gi law firms. Children whose parents can afford the services of a normally assisted not only in proceedings before the Public Pro also when appearing in court.
(e) Article 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the certain basic principles which are also found in the Constitution Republic of Rwanda in the chapter on civil liberties. They inc principles of nullum crimen sine lege and nulla poena sine lege a defence, the presumption of innocence, and the right to appea principles apply without distinction to adults and children, in everyone.
(f) Children are helped towards physical and psychologic social reintegration in special re-education centres, namely the MIYOVE Centres, where they learn how to live in the community a taught a variety of trades which will facilitate their social r
3. (a) Under the Rwandese Labour Code, night-time employment under 18 years of age in industrial establishments or branches in family businesses, is prohibited (art. 120). Children under age cannot be employed except in cases provided for by law (art
(b) Articles 271-277 of the Rwandese Penal Code include the protection of children and adults against the use of drugs psychotropic substances. These are erga omnes provisions. How no statistics on the use of drugs by children.
(c) Sexual exploitation and sexual abuse, as well as sel trafficking in and abducting children, are prohibited under the Code. Any person engaging in such activities will be prosecute. competent courts, and punished for the offenses committed. He will also be required to pay compensation for any damage caused to the victims of such offenses. Here, it is to be hoped that the law will work effectively in safeguarding the rights of children.
4. There are few children belonging to minorities in Rwanda, but one such minority is the Batwa, who are forest-dwellers. For Batwa children, education is free at both the primary and the secondary levels. A number of non-profit-making associations have sprung up to protect the interests of the Batwa people. The Government helps the latter to build their homes by supplying timber and metalroofing.