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RWANDA WOMEN’S NETWORK1

ASSERTING WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS

Name: Women’s Network

Location: Eastern Rwanda

Year of foundation: 1997

Contact: Annette Mukiga

E-Mail: [email protected]

1 Prepared by Justine Mirembe, in collaboration with Peninah Abatoni, Mary Balikungeri, Elisabetta Cangelosi, Annette Mukiga, Sabine Pallas, Viviana Sacco and the group of women and paralegals of the Polyclinic of Hope in Bugesera. 2

The Context

Rwanda Women’s Network (RWN) is a national non-governmental organization working in Rwanda since 1997 when it took over from its parent organization-Church World Service. RWN was established with the mission of promoting and improving the socio-economic welfare of women in Rwanda. Its main administrative offices are located in “village of Hope” - City but RWN has also established 4 spaces/centers (Polyclinics of Hope) for women in the districts of Gatsibo, and Bugesera. RWN began with a program of promoting women’s rights to land, housing and inheritance specifically targeting victims of rape and other violent crimes largely perpetuated during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, as well as vulnerable homeless women returnees after the war.

The current population of Rwanda stands at more than 11 million people, over 80% of whom depend on agriculture. With a surface area of 26.338 square kilometer for 11 million people, Rwanda’s population density stands at more than 416 inhabitants per square kilometer (Rwanda Demographic profile, 2013), making it a densely populated country. Gender wise, women constitute more than 53% of the adult population and 50% of these are widows. Partially because of the genocide, the 34% of all households in Rwanda are headed by women. Also, women constitute over 50% of the Rwandan population infected by HIV (Rwanda Demographic profile, 2013). These statistics show that land is an important property that most of Rwandese rely on for a living and must therefore be safeguarded and protected with an aim of increasing its productivity for general interests and sustainable development.

Bugesera District

The District of Bugesera is one of the seven (7) Districts of the Eastern Province of RWANDA. It is situated to the South West of the Province, between 3005 of longitude and 2009 of latitude South and covering a surface of 1337 Km2 Its capital is Nyamata. is among the districts that have relatively a high mean size of land cultivated (in the interval of >0.75-0.97 ha) but still have a high percentage (71%) of cultivating households that cultivate under 0.9 ha of land. 69% of households in Bugesera district have been exposed to the Land Tenure Regularisation programme. This proportion is 54.1% country-wide on average. The 78.4% of all households in Bugesera district raise some type of livestock, ranking the eighth district nationally on this indicator. This percentage is slightly above the national level with 68.2 % (Rwanda National Institute of Statistics,2011). The district is the location of two memorial sites of the : the Ntarama Genocide Memorial Site and the Nyamata 3

Genocide Memorial Site. There are many victims of genocide in the area and Rwanda government is planning to build an international airport in the area, all these reasons have attracted many land buyers in the area. The community especially women and other vulnerable groups need to have secure land rights.

Land and land tenure

Women in Rwanda as in other African countries face numerous cultural, customary, economic, legal and social constraints that hinder them from accessing land and other property. Discriminatory laws and practices regarding land coupled with land scarcity in Rwanda have stifled women’s land rights and impacted negatively on female-headed households. Today, the government of Rwanda has passed laws granting women equal land and other property inheritance like those of men thereby overturning traditional norms that favoured males. Examples of such laws are the land law of 2013, succession law, 1999, Gender Based Violence law and the Constitution, 2003 as amended to date.

Challenges

Low literacy rates for women which stand at 36%, conspire with high poverty and ignorance levels of women to limit women’s capacity to assert their rights to inherit, access and control land. This situation is worsened by high population growth and density, limited agricultural land and over dependency on subsistence agriculture by over 80% of the total population majority of these women.

What can we learn from RWN?

1. To understand specific strategies used in securing land rights for the vulnerable women;

2. To explore the key role of community paralegals in securing women’s land rights;

3. Understand the importance of creating spaces for women as a means to sharing their experiences and understanding their needs related to their land rights;

4. Understand partnerships with different actors as an advocacy tool;

5. To identify barriers in settling land disputes, which involve women.

Rwanda Women’s Network vision and trajectory

RWN’s vision is for a healthy, empowered and peaceful Rwandese society. In addition to other interventions RWN, contributes to the protection and promotion of women’s rights to land, property and inheritance in order to achieve its vision. RWN programs are based on women driven initiatives and ideas through the following activities.

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RWN Activities

1. Creation of Spaces for Women The first space/centre was created in 1997 when RWN was born. This was a space where women met and discussed their own issues including land issues. Most of those women were left by their families without land or shelter after the 1994 genocide against Tutsis. RWN targeted victims of genocide, widows, HIV/AIDS victims, and poor women. These spaces are important assets for organizing, strategizing and solidarity building for women. The Polyclinic of Hope in general has proved replicable as RWN is currently running 4 centers in Rwanda and the main lessons that the centers emphasize are related to: Space for women organizing, Women driven and women led change, Community resource persons e.g. the community paralegals helping women to deal with their own issues and Social and economic empowerment as a prerequisite to bettering women’s lives.

2. Mapping and Documentation

In efforts to secure women’s land rights, RWN provides information and data on women’s land rights and inheritance through conducting research, documenting the findings, as well as sharing these findings with other stakeholders including women themselves, communities, partner groups, local authorities, women councillors and others. Mapping activities include community focus group discussions to assist grassroots women and community based groups to identify and document issues concerning land, housing, inheritance, HIV/AIDS, GBV and gender equality and also map out strategies. Sharing information through workshops, research reports, training materials have changed people’s behaviour and attitude towards securing women’s land rights. RWN shares information and starts programs based on evidence.

3. Local to Local Dialogue

Women engage in a dialogue with local leaders and negotiate development issues of their concern to influence policies, plans and programs in ways that address women’s priorities. They are given space and encouraged to speak out It is easy for women to make use of other and contribute to finding solutions to their existing structures and government programs problems. when they are together in cooperatives or

associations. These centers are meeting places 4. Community Paralegal Program for women to discuss their issues. RWN will be This activity is aimed at building capacity for bringing Members of parliament to discuss with women and communities to solve their women at parents evening forum (Mary problems. Paralegals are trained and are Balikungeri Director and founder of RWN). given basic legal knowledge that facilitates them to provide legal aid to victims of land 5

rights, orient, monitor, as well as accompany victims and report human rights violations to the respective authorities. In addition, RWN has developed specific training modules/materials to paralegals, which they apply when educating the community on their rights.

5. Public Awareness Raising

Capacity building activities for women, Giving women knowledge and skills on communities and institutions which have the their rights and human rights in general role in protecting women’s rights to land, property and inheritance are among the and the justice system are crucial. It core activities for RWN to ensure securing gives women capacity and confidence to women’s land rights and inheritance. RWN fight for and assert their rights. has taken a holistic approach to improving the welfare of vulnerable women. In this approach, other cross-cutting themes such as good governance, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, family planning, gender equality, fight against Gender Based Violence and income generating activities, are addressed during the training.

6. The Link between Women’s Land and Inheritance Rights, Gender Based Violence and HIV/AIDS Vulnerability. In its holistic approach, RWN believes that empowering women to secure their land rights reduces their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. The more economically vulnerable women are, the more likely it is for them to engage in risky behaviours such prostitution in order to earn a living. This increases their chances of being infected with HIV/AIDS.

7. Exchange Learning Exchange learning is another activity organised and facilitated by RWN. This is aimed at reinforcing women’s knowledge, capacities and means used in solving women’s issues that emerge as a result of lack of respect for women’s land rights, ignorance, and lack of confidence to speak out their mind. Women are facilitated to share experiences, knowledge transfer and discuss best practices as well as challenges and lessons learnt. Peer exchanges can be at local, national or international level. Through these exchanges, women have become agents of change.

8. Will Writing

RWN mobilises and sensitises communities on the importance of writing their Wills before their death. Communities are also assisted in the preparation of the Will if necessary. Communities are specifically enlightened on what a legally binding will is, as well as on when and how it can be written.

How is the Experience Developed? RWN help communities and women in particular to use existing legal frameworks to 6

secure their land rights. In addition to the legal frameworks and mechanisms, other tools and approaches are used for communities and women in particular to assert their land rights.

Creation of Space for Women In 1997, RWN was born and established the first centre/space-Polyclinic of Hope in Kigali city in Nyarugenge district. The space/centre was a place for women to organize themselves to have a common understanding of their own issues and have the same voice The Center initially started with offering services to women who were raped during the 1994 genocide. However, the outreach has expanded to address issues of poverty and sexual and gender based violence for women. Issues of women’s access to and ownership of land have also come in since land ownership determines the extent of the vulnerability of women in the issues mentioned above. As a matter of urgency, RWN started supporting widows and orphans by rehabilitating houses for them.

Lobbying and Advocacy RWN collaborated with other stakeholders to take women’s issues to a national level. This was done through lobbying and advocating for enactment of the law on matrimonial regime liberalities and successions (commonly known as succession law). RWN started awareness raising campaigns about the succession law. More women inherited land from their deceased spouses, parents and relatives hence improving their welfare. RWN activities expanded in 2000 when another center was created in Gasabo district (commonly known as Village of Hope-VoH). More shelters were provided for over 120 women and their families. Today, the VoH program reaches about 11,000 persons who are provided with services such as health care and support psychosocial, trauma and HIV/Aids counseling and mobilization besides sensitization on gender based violence, reproductive health, property and inheritance rights, women’s and children rights, HIV/AIDS, conflict management and peace building skills, and others.

Contribution to the Enactment of the Land law of 2005 and 2013 Through lobbying and advocacy, RWN contributed much to the law regarding land and its management. RWN has also continued to conduct training and capacity building activities for communities and women to understand new laws and policies.

The Creation of Polyclinic of Hope (PoH) in Bugesera,2006 The PoH Center in Bugesera started in 2006 and is currently reaching out to 1,200 persons from 10 Sectors of Nyamata, Butama, Musenyi, Ruhuha, Gashora, Mayange, Rilima, Juru, Kamabuye and Rweru. The Center initially started with services for women survivors of the 1994 genocide that were raped and living with HIV and AIDS. However, the outreach has expanded to other vulnerable women including the poor, as well as victims and survivors of sexual and gender based violence. The PoH in Bugesera was created for two reasons that may slightly be different from other centers, although same activities are carried out: 1) Bugesera is one of the districts worst hit by genocide against Tutsi. This means that many widows and orphans were left landless. 2) The government is planning to build an international airport in Bugesera. Consequently, there is a rush to acquire land in the area. RWN anticipated more land wrangles in the area as the road to Bugesera was being built and some people were being expropriated-majority women. This precipitated RWN to start a paralegal service to help women who were faced with land problems.

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Nyinawumuntu Viviane is one of the women assisted by paralegals. The in-laws refused her to utilize the land after the death of the husband because they had not registered their marriage. Lydia is one of the children who Shewere filed assisted the case by paralegto courtals. with Today, the help she ofis 26a years old and was 14 years when her parents died. She has 2 brothers;paralegal. they After all stayed 3 years with she onewon of the the case. uncles She aftersold the death of the parents. Uncles refused to give the land tothe Lydia land and boughtthe brothers a new laterone in when a different they needed area it. Lydia learnt about existence of paralegals and asked onewhere of the she paralegals built a house. who Shehelped mortgages her to file the the house case in court. Lydia was in school, she had limited time to followthen up usesthe case, the money and she to gave pay schoolauthority fees to for the her paralegal through writing to represent her in court. Lydia won thechildren case and and decided keeps onto rentingsell part out of the landhouse and to paybought 1.5 acres of land. She does farming of different types of vegetablesthe bank. She using uses 13 revenues techniques. from the house to provide other basic needs for her family. Lydia and her 2 brothers have earned a living through selling vegetables. She would sell vegetables and save 50,000 FRS per month to pay school fees for her brother who completed secondary. Lydia would also prepare vegetable gardens for other interested people from the community and charge them- each parcel has its price. The money she gets from this is saved to buy themselves clothes and other basic needs. Her gardens have greatly impacted the community through teaching them how to make the vegetable gardens for themselves. Lydia collaborates with local leaders who organize the community to assist families they think have the problem of malnutrition. And on umuganda day, the community does the clearing of the land and Lydia does the planting and follows up. At least once in a week, Lydia has to visit the family they assisted to see the gardens and give orientation to the person responsible on how she/he should take care of the garden(s). She also gives seedlings to those families after learning how to do it themselves. Lydia has so far assisted 34 families who had malnutrition problems. At the regional level, some people have visited her gardens as a study tour. She expects these people to go and replicate the activity and earn a living too.

Lydia has plans of improving her land by growing bananas and fruits through modern farming, despite the challenge of weather change, which affects the harvest. Lydia learnt all the techniques of farming through a USAID project ‘HIGA UBEHO”

The Community Paralegal program is an initiative that enhances the RWN rights based approach to dealing with vulnerable women and their families’ issues including rights to land and inheritance. Paralegals are selected by the community based on trust and the level of integrity and willingness to volunteer. Paralegals work closely with local leaders and abunzi whose mandate among others is to mediate and or solve land disputes. Paralegals in Bugesera give legal advice to beneficiaries and orient them to abunzi if necessary. Paralegals monitor cases for women and advise on issues such as appealing cases to higher courts. Currently, women in communities know their land rights and are able to pursue them. Women also mortgage their land and get loans to invest in other developmental activities. Children who lost their parents have been able to claim their land, which they have used to improve their welfare.

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Since RWN also believes in holistic approaches, the Community Paralegal program is strengthened by other initiatives to increase women’s economic empowerment, women’s agency and property ownership. RWN encourages and supports paralegals to develop initiatives aimed at keeping them together and improving their welfare. As a result of this, paralegals have initiated the tontine system where little money is given to individuals every time they meet. In Bugesera, paralegals have formed a cooperative named TWUBAKANE for block making. The cooperative started as an association with 30 women living with HIV/AIDS and 7 men (husbands to some of those women). The cooperative currently boasts of 59 members. In 2007, the association was registered as a cooperative. In line with the government’s policy of preserving trees, the cooperative decided to produce cement blocks given that unlike clay blocks, these did not require firewood for drying. RWN supported the cooperative with a machine, which they use to make blocks. Women borrow from the cooperative and some of them have bought land for themselves. Others use the money for business and cater for their families. RWN has also connected them to other women groups’ supporters for expansion and sustainability of their initiative.

Strength, Weaknesses and Opportunities

RWN has got strengths that enable the organisation to move towards success in securing women’s land rights. This has been achieved through use of different innovative tools and approaches as described above. The holistic approach used has enabled women to access health services, socio-economic services (cooperatives and tontine system) and shelter among others. For instance, RWN gives health support to women living with HIV/AIDS and then advises them on how to deal with the land’s conflicts. Research has shown that in Rwanda, some women are unable to secure their land rights due to sickness (MIREMBE, 2013). It is imperative for women to have full support to secure their land rights. Linking land with other issues has enabled RWN to reach and support a big number of women. Some women are able to secure their land rights because of improved health conditions, especially those living with HIV/AIDS and opportunistic diseases.

The participatory approach through the Local-to-Local Dialogue has given women an opportunity to negotiate with local leaders. Women can share their concerns and authorities can plan according to the needs of the community. And women’s issues are prioritised if they have the capacity to disseminate information about issues and challenges they want to address.

The paralegal program has developed a spirit of solidarity among women. This approach has proved to be most appropriate because it reaches the most vulnerable women and orphans. Awareness raising campaign on the existing legal framework has reached a big number of the community through paralegal activities mentioned above.

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RWN shares information and starts programs based on evidence. Through participatory researches RWN documents relevant issues pertaining to women including formulation of appropriate activities and strategies to address the issues identified. This approach has facilitated RWN to carry out their lobbying and advocacy work.

The use and link of RWN activities to the existing structures such as abunzi, local leaders and other partners has been strength especially in terms of sustainability of activities. Also, the good partnership and working relationship with the mentioned partners in particular mediators/abunzi has demonstrated good results.

Creation of spaces for women has been the most innovative tool for empowering women. The centres have proved useful in enabling RWN to understand women’s problems better and avoid duplication. For example, some women have been identified as having problems of school fees for their children hence the establishment of a scholarship scheme by RWN for children of these women to enable them attain secondary and tertiary education. In spite of the gender progressive laws and the political will to ensure gender equality in Rwanda, women still face some challenges in acquiring, asserting and claiming their land rights. Low levels of education have prevented women from effectively asserting and claiming their land rights. In particular, the majority of women have faced challenges in following up their cases because their low education levels neither give them the confidence nor the skills and knowledge to do so.

Financial constraints have been a big challenge especially for the vulnerable women who cannot support themselves, yet they need transport to different administrative levels. In the beginning RWN helped women to follow up their cases by providing financial support, but this was later stopped due to financial constraints.

Women also divide their time between attending to their cases and attending to their numerous home responsibilities. The same goes for children/orphans who are in school. In addition to lack of time as students, they may not have transport means to go follow up their cases. Clearly, justice is denied in spite of all efforts by RWN and women in particular to assert their land rights

Some cultural values also hinder women from asserting their land rights. For example, as cultural heads of households, men have a final word on land issues. This means that clauses such as consent and joint titling might be useless if women are not in position to challenge the views and wishes of their husbands. Fear of community disapproval has also inhibited some women from asserting and claiming their land rights. Some women are not confident of themselves and in most cases, they believe in losing cases other than winning, and also mind a lot about what society will think about them in case they lose the case.

Despite the efforts by RWN to secure women’s land rights through awareness raising and legal interventions, negative traditions towards women’s attainment of land rights persist.

RWN does not have funds to conduct all its activities such as paying lawyers for the beneficiaries in spite of the help it gets from its partners such as HAGURUKA Association and International Justice Mission- IJM to give support to women. As a result of lack of resources, the land program is under staffed which has consequences on the development some of activities such as community mobilization.

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In order to overcome such challenges, as future perspectives RWN intends to mobilize more funds specifically for the land program in order to recruit sufficient staff for community mobilization and for providing legal aid to women. Moreover RWN intends to put more efforts in lobbying and advocacy to influence national policies on women’s rights and increase women’s participation in the political arena.

Conclusions and lessons learned

The land tenure in Rwanda is gender sensitive. Both land and succession laws guarantee gender equality with regards to land and property ownership. Creating spaces for women, documenting their issues, aiding them legally, and sensitizing communities on women’s rights to own land are useful tools to secure women’s rights. However, there are gaps in terms of unclear laws specifically Gender Based Violence (GBV) law that would protect women in consensual marriages. There is also need to improve the awareness campaign on the existing laws and mobilising women in consensual marriages with the aim of registering their marriages and be protected by the law. Not all communities are aware of these laws and this is partly why customary practices regarding inheritance are still practiced alongside the new legislations that guarantee equal land rights to women and men. Awareness raising campaigns should aim to changing negative attitudes towards women’s land rights.

Involving authorities at different levels should be taken seriously since using existing structures facilitates advocacy and ensures sustainability.

Securing land for women is a way to negotiate their role in their families. Women are free to improve on their land and do other business thus improving their livelihood. Securing land for women should be included with other livelihood activities/issues. The approach guarantees full utilization of land without any constraint.

References

Brown, J. & Uvuza, J. (2006) Women’s Land Rights in Rwanda: How can they be Protected and strengthened as the Land Law is Implemented. Rural Development Institute, Seattle.

Cyzia, A. (2002), Family Law and Matrimonial Property, An assessment of Local Resolution of Land Disputes. Decree-Law on the purchase and sale of customary rights over land or rights of occupation. No 09/76 of 04/03/76. National Land Policy.

Mirembe, J. (2013), Women and land ownership Rights in Rwanda. The Case of Kicukiro, 2013, unpublished.

Republic of Rwanda, Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS) 2008 – 2012.

Republic of Rwanda, Rwanda National Land Policy, 2004

Republic of Rwanda, Rwanda Demographic Profile, 2013 11

Rwanda Women Network, Women’s Land Rights and Inheritance Program, Brochure

Rwanda Women Network, (2011), Experiences of women in asserting their land rights: the case of Bugesera District, Rwanda

Republic of Rwanda, The law N°59/2008 of 10/09/2008 on prevention and punishment of gender- based violence in Rwanda, Rwanda National Institute of Statistics, 2011, Eicv3 District Profile.

East - Bugesera

Republic of Rwanda (1999), Law No 22 of 15/11/1999: to supplement book 1 of the civil code and to institute part five regarding Matrimonial regimes, Liberalities and Successions. Kigali: Official Gazette

The Republic of Rwanda (2003), The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 4th June 2003 as amended to date (2003)

United Nations, 1945: http://www.un.org/overview/rights.html, accessed on 29/11/2013.