Rwanda parliament in a past session. Rwanda’s opposition has voiced concerns over a date proposed by the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) for the controversial referendum on constitutional amendment. FILE PHOTO | CYRIL NDEGEYA
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The legislators said the commission’s 2014/15 report does not expound on, among other things, illegal detentions in transit centres despite reports that the street children rehabilitation facilities have now been turned into detention centres, receiving adults accused of petty crimes.
Rwandan legislators have yet again raised concern over respect for human rights in the country, amid reports of increasing cases of human-rights violations.
While tabling its annual report for 2014/15 before parliament last week, the National Commission for Human Rights was faulted for failing to address cases of human-rights violations brought to its attention.
The legislators said the commission’s 2014/15 report does not expound on, among other things, illegal detentions in transit centres despite reports that the street children rehabilitation facilities have now been turned into detention centres, receiving adults accused of petty crimes.
“We know that adults should not be there. But, according to your report, it seems what used to be transit centres have become a place where suspected criminals are detained... for which you did not provide an explanation,” said MP Ignatienne Nyirarukundo.
According to the report, about 1,854 people were detained in transit centres. But the commission does not reveal how many children and adults there were. The report only addresses the deplorable conditions in which the detainees live, citing cases where families are not notified that their relatives have been detained and in some cases are not allowed to visit them.
The National Commission for Human Rights head, Madeleine Nirere, told MPs that a special report on human rights in prisons, police stations and transit centres was submitted to President Paul Kagame and the Supreme Court for action.
This came after a recent report by global human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch that accused Rwandan authorities of unlawfully holding vulnerable citizens — such as sex workers, street vendors, beggars, homeless people, and suspected petty criminals — in an unofficial detention centre in Kigali.
The US-based rights organisation also alleged that people are living in deplorable conditions at the centre and are subject to arbitrary beatings and other punishments.
The government denied all the allegations in the Human Rights Watch report, with the Minister for Justice and Attorney-General Johnston Busingye saying all detention facilities in Rwanda are properly legislated and run in accordance with United Nations standards.
The lawmakers further said the commission’s report was shallow and lacked substantial solutions, with some raising pertinent issues they felt the report left out, including the increase in school dropouts, the rising number of street children and cases of underage pregnancy.
These issues are likely to be discussed by the parliamentary standing committee, as the report is expected to be referred to them for further scrutiny.
According to the report, 1,705 human-rights abuse cases were reported to the rights commission in 2014/15, raising the number of pending cases to 2,038.
The cases are mainly to do with children’s rights violations; human-rights abuses; gender-based violence; abuses of right to property, justice, education and rights to repossess grabbed property.
The commission said of the 1,705 human-rights abuse cases reported last year only 806 were solved. Those that are still pending comprise mainly of cases that the commission investigated, but tasked concerned institutions to resolve.
The annual report by the National Commission for Human Rights comes just as the Universal Periodic Review process — the UN instrument for human-rights assessment — is set to start on November 4.
