Access to justice and the international law standards

3.4 Justice Centers in Rwanda

The Rwandan government endeavours to fulfil its constitutional obligations of fulfilling the rights to fair trial and of access to justice through recently established Access to Justice Centers. By October 2009, there are five Access to Justice Centers in Rwanda, at least one in every province. These Centers work to promote policies that empower those who are vulnerable, whether the problem is eviction; government bureaucracy (including, in some instances, the courts themselves); employers who deny wages; abusive spouses in custody disputes or in domestic violence matters; or other problems that people seek to resolve disputes according to the law.

Apart from sensitising the population and promoting the judicial system, the Access to
Justice Centers are responsible for advising and orienting every citizen to the right
judicial instances. The Access Justice Centers operate as coordinators for all legal

147 It is useful to note that the conclusions are compulsory to any person launching a civil action in court. See Article 13 of the Law No 18/2004 of 20/6/2004 on the Code of Civil, Commercial, Social and Administrative Procedures.

148 See details in J Van As Legal representation as an element of access to justice (1999) unpublished LLD Thesis completed at the University of Stellenbosch; Cited in Hennie, supra note 5, 65.

initiatives in the respective areas. ¹⁴⁹ They have the responsibility to identify and coordinate all legal assistance activities in their area. In other words, they are facilitators of legal assistance. The overall objective of the Access to Justice Centers is to improve access to justice for the surrounding population, especially the poor and vulnerable.

Specific objective of these centers are:

· coordination of legal assistance initiatives;

· serve as a first point of orientation ;

· sensitizing the population on the national legal framework and their rights ; and

· development of best practices for national scaling up.¹⁵⁰

Apart from sensitizing the population on their access to justice, the services of these centers entail consultation and attendance at both criminal and civil matters. It is submitted that the Access to Justice Centers policy is a strategic one with the ultimate aim of helping to ensure access to justice to Rwandan people. Indeed, it is a gradual process but vital initiative aimed at reaching the most needy communities in rural areas.

3.5 Conclusion

This Chapter has outlined the legal aid framework in Rwanda. It showed that the only provisions concerning free legal aid are articles 60-63 in the Law establishing the Bar. Yet, with the exception of children, there is no explicit right or obligation to legal representation at state expense in the Rwandan legal framework.

Nevertheless, the constitutional provision on right to a fair public hearing? could be interpreted as implying a right to legal representation at state expense if substantial injustice would otherwise result. The Chapter further examined the recently established Access to Justice Centers and showed that these are vital national initiatives to advance access to the courts.

149 It should be noted that the first Access to Justice Center has been created in Nyanza and is based in the Institute for Legal Practice and Development (ILPD). Others are established at Kibuye, Cyangugu and Rwamagana and Rulindo. Every province has at least one Access to Justice Center.

150 See the Rwandan Ministry of Justice available at www.minijust.gov.rw, accessed on 26 August 2009.

Several problems within the present legal aid framework in Rwanda have been identified. First of all, the provision of legal aid still lags far behind the demand. Second, the operation of Access to Justice Centres varies from place to place. They are still very few and they cannot serve the whole country, especially needy people from the remote areas. Though a system of pro bono could provide a necessary safety net to needy, it is not without problems. The quality of pro bono legal services cannot be guaranteed.

In the same vein, the Kigali Bar Association which is solely engaged in providing legal aid, apart from NGOs and University based Clinics, is inadequately funded. Owing to a lack of funding and enough number of practicing lawyers, there is a huge disproportion between the demand and supply of legal aid in Rwanda.

It is reaffirmed in the preamble of the Rwandan Constitution¹⁵¹ that Rwanda is committed to the rights enshrined in various international conventions including the UDHR and the ICCPR.¹⁵² Consequently, any Rwandan court is bound to interpret not only the Rwandan Constitution but also all its laws in light of the international standards. Legal aid should be accessible and tailored to suit the needs of people.¹⁵³ A legal aid scheme must have as its ultimate aim the provision of a wide range of legal services.

Chapter four analyses critically the legal aid system in Rwanda and seeks to earn some lessons from the South African Legal Aid system.

151 The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4 June 2003.

152 See ibid. point 9 of the preamble. It reads as follows: We, the People of Rwanda, Reaffirm our adherence to the principles of human rights enshrined in the United Nations Charter of 26 June 1945, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 21 December 1965, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights of 19 December 1966, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 19 December 1966, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1 May 1980, the African Charter of Human and Peoples? Rights of 27 June 1981 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989.

153 See further details in Hennie, supra note 5, 71.

CHAPTER FOUR: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE RWANDAN LEGAL AID SYSTEM IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE