PROFILE OF INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT : RWANDA Compilation of the information available in the Global IDP Database of the Norwegian Refugee Council (as of 5 March, 2002) Also available at http://www.idpproject.org Users of this document are welcome to credit the Global IDP Database for the collection of information. The opinions expressed here are those of the sources and are not necessarily shared by the Global IDP Project or NRC Norwegian Refugee Council/Global IDP Project Chemin Moïse Duboule, 59 1209 Geneva - Switzerland Tel: + 41 22 799 07 00 Fax: + 41 22 799 07 01 E-mail : [email protected] CONTENTS CONTENTS 1 PROFILE SUMMARY 5 SUMMARY 5 CAUSES AND BACKGROUND OF DISPLACEMENT 7 BACKGROUND AND HISTORY OF THE CONFLICT 7 ETHNIC BACKGROUND 7 THE INFLUENCE OF COLONIAL POWERS TO SHAPE ETHNICITY (1860-1959) 7 FOLLOWING DECOLONIZATION PERIOD, POWER TO THE HUTU MAJORITY (1959-1993) 8 MASSIVE DISPLACEMENT IN THE WAKE OF THE GENOCIDE OF 1994 9 INSURGENCY IN THE NORTHWEST OF RWANDA (1996-1998) 10 STABILIZATION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL BUT CONTINUED INTERVENTION IN DR CONGO (1999- 2001) 11 RWANDAN GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL ARE STILL PROSECUTING PERPETRATORS OF THE 1994 GENOCIDE (2000-2002) 14 CONTINUING FLOW OF RETURNEES FROM NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES (NOVEMBER 2001) 16 MORE THAN 1,500 HOMES DESTROYED BY EARTHQUAKES IN RWANDA (JANUARY 2002) 16 CAUSES OF DISPLACEMENT 16 MASSIVE INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT DUE TO ARMED CONFLICT BETWEEN INSURGENT AND GOVERNMENT FORCES IN THE NORTHWEST (1997-1998) 16 INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT CAUSED BY THE RESETTLEMENT POLICY OF VILLAGIZATION (END 1998-1999) 17 POPULATION PROFILE AND FIGURES 20 GLOBAL FIGURES 20 JOINT STUDY BY RWANDAN GOVERNMENT AND UN SAYS THAT OVER 192,000 HOUSEHOLDS IN INADEQUATE SHELTER AS OF NOVEMBER 2001 20 CURRENT ESTIMATES VARY BETWEEN 0 AND 150,000 IDPS (2000-2001) 22 TENS OF THOUSANDS OF THEM HAVE BEEN DISPLACED INTO IMIDUGUDU AGAINST THEIR WILL (2001) 23 APPROXIMATELY 59 PERCENT OF HEADS OF HOUSEHOLD IN IMIDUGUDU ARE WOMEN ACCORDING TO SURVEY BY RWANDAN NGO (2001) 24 TWO PEAKS OF INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT IN RECENT HISTORY: 1998 AND 1994 24 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 26 RESETTLEMENT IN RUHENGERI AND GISENYI PREFECTURES BY AUGUST 2000 26 PATTERNS OF DISPLACEMENT 29 GENERAL 29 PHASES OF INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT IN THE NORTHWEST (1997-2000) 29 FOUR CATEGORIES OF DISPLACED PERSONS IN 1994 30 PHYSICAL SECURITY & FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT 32 RIGHT TO LIFE AND PERSONAL SECURITY 32 INCREASED FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT IN THE NORTHWEST IN 2000 COMPARED TO 1999 SAYS SCF-UK (MAY 2000) 32 LOCAL DEFENSE FORCES (LDF) FIRST SET UP TO ASSIST SOLDIERS AGAINST INSURGENTS AND THEN TO PROTECT NEW VILLAGES (1997-2002) 32 GOVERNMENT OFFERED SOME PROTECTION AND MATERIAL ASSISTANCE TO PEOPLE IN RESETTLEMENT SITES (1999-2000) 33 KILLING OF 2000 INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN KIBEHO CAMP (1995) 34 FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT 34 REPORTS OF COERCION DURING VILLAGIZATION PROCESS (1999-2001) 34 GP ON INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT REQUIRE THOSE GROUPED TOGETHER FOR PURPOSES OF SECURITY TO BE ALLOWED TO RETURN HOME WHEN EMERGENCY IS OVER (1999-2001) 36 SUBSISTENCE NEEDS (HEALTH NUTRITION AND SHELTER) 37 GENERAL 37 POCKETS OF FOOD INSECURITY REMAIN IN THE PROVINCES OF GIKONGORO, BUTARE AND GISENYI (FEB 2002) 37 MANY IMIDUGUDU STILL LACK ADEQUATE BASIC SERVICES (NOVEMBER 2001) 37 SHELTER 37 MANY RETURNEES FROM TANZANIA RELOCATED INTO THEIR COMMUNE OF ORIGIN LIVE IN BLINDÉS AND PLASTIC SHEETING (2001) 37 NEED FOR ADEQUATE SHELTER FOR THE VULNERABLE POOR, ESPECIALLY AMONG FEMALE AND CHILD-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS (1999-2001) 38 OVERVIEW OF SHELTER NEEDS IN RWANDA (2001) 39 PEOPLE COMPELLED TO DESTROY THEIR HOUSES IN THE NORTHWEST TO MOVE TO IMIDUGUDU (2001) 40 NUTRITION 40 GENERAL DECLINE IN MALNUTRITION RATES AMONG RECENTLY RELOCATED PEOPLE (1999 - 2000) 40 HEALTH 41 HIGH PREVALENCE TO COMMUNICABLE DISEASES AND LIMITED HEALTH CARE IN GENERAL (2001) 41 INTERNALLY DISPLACED HAVE LITTLE ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES AND SUFFER FROM EPIDEMIC DISEASES (1998-2000) 42 ACCESS TO EDUCATION 44 GENERAL 44 2 LITTLE ACCESS TO EDUCATION IN RWANDA IN GENERAL AND IN THE NORTHWEST IN PARTICULAR (1999-2001) 44 ISSUES OF SELF-RELIANCE AND PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 45 ACCESS TO LAND AND TO WORK 45 DESPITE AGRICULTURAL RECOVERY IN THE NORTHWEST, RESETTLED POPULATIONS OFTEN HAVE A REDUCED ACCESS TO LAND (1999-2000) 45 WOMEN & CHILDREN HEADS OF HOUSEHOLDS CARRY HEAVY BURDEN OF RAISING FAMILY AND SUSTAINING PRODUCTIVE LIVELIHOOD (1994-2001) 46 DOCUMENTATION NEEDS AND CITIZENSHIP 49 GENERAL 49 ETHNIC LABELS ON ID CARDS ARE REMOVED (2000) 49 PROPERTY ISSUES 50 GENERAL 50 LAND SCARCITY IS A MAJOR PROBLEM, EXACERBATED BY LAND OWNERSHIP ISSUES (2001) 50 NEW DRAFT LAND POLICY AND LAND BILL (NOVEMBER 2001) 51 NEW LAW ON MATRIMONIAL PROPERTY AND SUCCESSION ENTITLES ORPHANED GIRLS AND WIDOWS TO INHERIT PROPERTY (2000-2001) 52 AUTHORITIES OFTEN CONFISCATED LAND FOR IMIDUGUDU WITHOUT COMPENSATION (2001) 53 IN SEVERAL PROVINCES, LAND OF DISPLACED FARMERS GIVEN TO A FEW INDIVIDUALS OR COMPANIES (2001) 54 RWANDAN BATWA PYGMY PEOPLE SAID IN CONFERENCE THAT THEY HAD BEEN DENIED THEIR LAND RIGHTS (SEPTEMBER 2001) 55 PATTERNS OF RETURN AND RESETTLEMENT 56 GENERAL 56 DEBATE ON WHETHER THE DISPLACED ARE PERMANENTLY RESETTLED (2001) 56 THREE CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE RESETTLED IN VILLAGES IN RUHENGERI (2001) 56 RESETTLEMENT OF FORMER REFUGEES AND OF PEOPLE SQUATTING PUBLIC BUILDINGS (2001) 57 RELOCATION OF TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FAMILIES INTO NEW VILLAGES (DEC. 1998 - 1999) 58 RESETTLEMENT SITES LACK ADEQUATE SERVICES ACCORDING TO SPECIAL REP OF THE COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS (FEBRUARY 2000) 58 HUMANITARIAN ACCESS 60 GENERAL 60 IMPROVED HUMANITARIAN ACCESS IN 1999-2000 COMPARED TO 1997-1998 60 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES 61 3 NATIONAL RESPONSE 61 RWANDAN GOVERNMENT ALLOCATES 1.9 MILLION TO ALLEVIATE SHELTER NEEDS IN THE NORTHWEST FOR 1999-2002 (2001) 61 RWANDAN GOVERNMENT JUSTIFIES VILLAGIZATION POLICY (1998-2001) 61 RWANDAN GOVERNMENT ATTEMPTED TO REMEDY SOME OF THE ERRORS OF RESETTLEMENT EFFORTS DURING EMERGENCY PERIOD (2001) 63 INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 64 REINTEGRATION NEEDS OF THE RWANDESE ARE NOT SUFFICIENTLY ADDRESSED (2000-2001) 64 UN OCHA SUGGESTS TO REACTIVATE DIALOGUE WITH GOVERNMENT ON RESETTLEMENT AND VILLAGIZATION (2001) 65 ASSESSMENT OF UNHCR'S AND UNDP'S ROLE IN VILLAGIZATION POLICY BY HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH (2001) 66 HRW SAYS THAT UN SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR RWANDA FAILED TO ADDRESS ABUSES OF VILLAGIZATION POLICY (2001) 67 UN COMMUNITY ADOPTED JOINT APPROACH TO ASSIST RWANDAN GOVERNMENT IN CONTEXT OF VILLAGIZATION (FEBRUARY 2000) 68 INTERNATIONAL AMBIVALENCE TOWARDS THE VILLAGIZATION POLICY (1999-2000) 69 WFP AND NGOS TRY TO IMPROVE THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF THE PEOPLE IN RESETTLEMENT SITES BY THE GISHWATI FOREST (2001) 71 UN PROGRAMS TO INTERNALLY DISPLACED AND RESETTLED POPULATIONS (1999-2002) 71 LESSONS LEARNED FOLLOWING UN AGENCIES' RESPONSES TO CRISIS IN THE NORTHWEST (1999) 73 HOW WFP APPLIED THE GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT IN RWANDA (1998- 1999) 74 DONOR RESPONSE 75 DONORS CONTRIBUTED TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS WHICH FINANCED HOUSES IN IMIDUGUDU (2001) 75 NGOS RESPONSE 76 NGOS ADDRESS WATER AND SANITATION NEEDS OF RESETTLED POPULATION, DESPITE LIMITED FUNDING (1999-2002) 76 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS 78 LIST OF SOURCES USED 79 4 PROFILE SUMMARY Summary More than seven years after the genocide, 70 percent of the Rwandan population remains under the poverty line and approximately 192,000 families still live in inadequate shelters (U.S. DOS 4 March 2002 & Brookings Initiative in Rwanda November 2001 Annex 4 III). Most of them were resettled in 1998-1999 by the Rwandan government in the context of the "villagization" process. The UN and the Rwandan government consider that there are no more internally displaced in Rwanda (UN OCHA 18 December 2000). Human Rights Watch says, however, that tens of thousands were resettled against their will and that many of those have had to destroy their own homes (HRW May 2001). Over the last decade, Rwanda has suffered repeated waves of displacement. In the wake of the genocide of 1994, up to two million people were displaced. Many stayed within the country but the majority fled to neighboring Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo), Burundi and Tanzania. In 1997 members of the army and militia that had fled in 1994 (ex-Far and Interhamwe) launched an insurgency against the Rwandan government in the northern prefectures of Ruhengeri and Gisenyi. The conflict between insurgents and government forces led many inhabitants to flee their homes at the end of 1997. During 1998 the government moved hundreds of thousands of people into supervised camps in the northwest, as part of its effort to suppress the insurgency. At the end of 1998, the government ordered the dismantlement of the camps in the northwest and the relocation of the displaced into new villages. A similar resettlement process had already taken place in several provinces, particularly to accommodate the needs of returnees and of homeless genocide survivors. Since December 1996, the Rwandan government had made this process of "villagization" or "imidugudu" a national habitat policy, which called for houses to be constructed in government-created villages rather than in the traditional scattered homesteads. The ultimate objective of this policy was to move the entire rural population into grouped settlements (Brookings Initiative in Rwanda November 2001). The government said that basic services could be provided in a more cost-effective way in villages, that land could be distributed more rationally and that villages inhabited by different social groups could help promote reconciliation. In the northwest, the government justified the villagization process by pointing out that traditional scattered settlements left people exposed to the action of rebel groups (CHR 8 February 1999). Grouped settlements in the northwest were also seen as a way to deprive the insurgents of hideouts and covert support (Brookings Initiative in Rwanda November 2001). By late 1999, the Rwandan government had largely put down the insurgency in the northwest but continued to resettle people in new villages as late as mid-2000 (HRW December 2000).