Earlier this month, hundreds of Rwandans took to the street to express their anger against recent decisions by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda overturning the guilty convictions of two former cabinet ministers.
According to the Rwanda National Police, reported cases classified as “gender based violence” have gone down from 3,585 in 2011 to 3,444 last year, with defilement (or crimes of a sexual nature committed against children) topping the list as the most reported crime.
The United Nations official dealing with conflict-related sexual violence welcomed the Security Council’s imposition of sanctions on two armed groups active in the eastern DRC – the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda and the 23 March Movement.
Anne-Marie has edited a newly-released publication focusing on developments in recognizing, investigating, and prosecuting cases of sexual violence in (post-) conflict situations from an interdisciplinary angle.
2012 was a year of many positive developments in raising awareness about the plight of Rwandan survivors of sexual violence. We review these developments, as well as ongoing challenges for survivors in Rwanda.
The ICTR sentenced former Rwandan minister Augustin Ngirabatware to 35 years in jail for his role in the 1994 genocide. Ngirabatware was Planning Minister in the interim government that was in place during the genocide. This is the Tribunal’s last judgment, apart from appeals.
At an international conference on prosecuting crimes of sexual violence, participants in Kigali expressed the need to have appropriate ways of curbing crimes of sexual violence. During the conference, the ICTR’s Office of Prosecutor presented its two manuals that were prepared on the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence.
Survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are shocked by the early releases granted last week to two men who were convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The two who benefited from early release are former mayor Paul Bisengimana and former militia leader Omar Serushago.
Aloisea Inyumba, Rwanda’s Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, has passed away. Inyumba had returned to cabinet last year in the same position she held in the first post-Genocide cabinet. She had also served as a senator, as the executive secretary of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission and as prefet of the then Kigali Ngali prefecture.
William Hague describes British efforts to address sexual violence as a “weapon of war”. In his words, “As a man I feel appalled by [rape], and as Foreign Secretary I believe that it is within our power to do something about it. Moreover, I am convinced that this is a cause that Britain must champion. Ours is one of the few countries in the world with the global reach, resources and diplomatic network to be able to set a lead and so it is our responsibility to do so.”
By OBREAKSTS penny stocks
