Access to justice and the international law standards

1.2 Historical background to the study

It is accepted that Rwanda is a developing country with limited income. Beginning in 1959, a series of violent and primarily ethnic-based discrimination against the Tutsi people in Rwanda ultimately lead to the horrific 1994 genocide in which up to one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus perished in less than four months; many more were raped, maimed, or abused. From 1959 to 1994, a group of jurists who undertook an international overview on legal aid classified Rwanda amongst the worst group of countries which provide negligible legal aid, and without a plan for free or subsidised legal advice or assistance.¹¹ This situation is easily understandable considering the fact that Rwanda had in 1975 only about 15 lawyers. Apart from the death of legal provisions on legal aid¹² Rwanda did not have a plan for legal aid in both civil and criminal proceedings.¹³

Even though some NGOs such as Haguruka¹⁴ have been giving legal aid to the needy, it remains nevertheless true that it is the Law No 3/97 of 19 March 1997 which introduced some reforms on legal aid in Rwanda.¹⁵ Also, beyond the prescribed international law to which Rwanda became involved by signing a range of conventions, it enshrines the right to legal aid in article 19 of its Constitution. This Article reflects verbatim the terms of the UDHR.¹⁶

It may be useful to point out that Rwanda originally based its legal system on Belgian
civil law but more recent reforms¹⁷ have created a hybrid system combining elements of
the common law (such as cross-examination) with traditional civil law practices such as

¹¹ F Zemans Perspectives on legal aid: An international survey London: Fr Pinter Ltd (1985) 6.

¹² It is worth mentioning the Article 380 of the former Code of Civil procedures which contained a provision that the indigent party could be completely or partially exempted from procedural costs. Also, Article 82 of the same Code established that a party may be represented or assisted in all courts. See the Rwandan Code of Civil Procedures of 1986.

¹³ Zemans, supra note 11, 6.

¹⁴ Haguruka is an Association for the Defence of the Rights of the Woman and the Child in Rwanda that was founded on 16 July, 1991 to be the first NGO delivering legal aid in Rwanda.

¹⁵ It should be noted that Article 60 of the Law No 3/97 of 19 March 1997 poses the general principle the assistance to people whose incomes are weak? is ensured by the Office of Consultation and Defence (OCD) of the Bar of Rwanda. It is therefore charged with advising, consulting and defending the poor.

¹⁶ See Article 8 of the UDHR.

¹⁷ It is to be stressed that beginning in 2003, Rwanda has thoroughly transformed its justice system widespread reforms aimed at improving professionalism and judicial efficacy. These reforms have included such measures as minimum legal qualifications for judges, lawyers and senior registrars and greater use of single judge trials to increase efficiency, as well as many substantive legal provisions.

the participation of parties civiles?.¹⁸ Apart from the limited number of lawyers in Rwanda,¹⁹ one should add another problem that, as in many²⁰ civil law systems, lawyers are generally not permitted by legislation to be salaried employees.²¹

In order to ensure access to justice to the needy, it is necessary to define those people who make up the needy group and what is involved in giving them full access to justice through legal aid. Obviously in some countries, such as Rwanda, only the poor can be considered to be underprivileged. But in most countries, this concept cannot be restricted merely to poor people.²²

Physical barriers to access to legal aid services are the most noticeable and present the first barrier which must be overcome.²³ There are relatively easy to overcome because they are readily seen and identified and are capable of being eradicated. It should be noted that most lawyers in Rwanda have their offices in towns²⁴ and it is a physical obstacle for those who live in rural areas. Similarly, psychological barriers to access to legal services exist in Rwanda; chief among them is lack of information. With these caveats in mind, I must be stressed that a person who is unaware of his legal rights and has no knowledge of the services available to him is in no better position than he would be if there were no such rights and services.