Rwanda’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) this Thursday conducted an open day to showcase the achievements of a 19-year journey since the rights body was established.
Madeleine Nirere, the Chairperson of NCHR underlined that during the 19-year life of the commission received 17,583 cases and 97 per cent of these cases have been resolved with the help of the rights commission.
“We receive different kinds of cases from different people and they range from land wrangles, land expropriation issues, rape, child rights and human rights abuses among others,” Nirere observed.
The Chairperson says that the commission values the extent to which the respect of human rights in Rwanda has been promoted and protected. She emphasised that human rights in the country has moved to favourable levels without any favour from any specific group of people.
However, some people still don’t know their rights which sometimes bring about conflict or domestic violence. The commission says it works with different institutions to conduct awareness campaigns intended to educate people about their rights.
Different stakeholders were invited during the opening day at the commission’s office, these included public institutions like the ministry of justice, office of the prosecutor general, parliament, NGO’s, media and the general public.
The National Commission for Human Rights is provided for by Rwanda’s constitution as an independent body in charge of promotion and protection of human rights. The commission was established in 1999 by law n° 04/99 of 12th March 1999.
