For a detailed report:   RWANDA COUNTRY REVIEW PAPER ON CHILD RIGHTS & YOUTH MOVEMENTS
Study on child rights and youth movements in Rwanda by Dr.claude Shema Rutagengwa
 

© Claude Rutagengwa 2006

In April each year, Rwanda commemorates the anniversary of the genocide that wiped out more than a million people and destroyed almost all the country’s socio-economic infrastructure. The depth of destruction, coupled with a structural lack of resources, explains the misery in which the Rwandan population continue to suffer, despite important and continuous efforts carried out to alleviate it. Thus, more than 60% of the Rwandan population lives on less than 1$ per day.

The youth, which officially in Rwanda consists of the population between 14 and 35 years old, is the most affected by the resulting socio-economic problems, while being the majority of the population: 57% of the Rwandan population is under 18 years of age and those between 14-35 are 36%.

At the national level, each one is in charge of the survival of several people. Thus 195.000 youth under 20 years of age are heads of households.

Although such a situation is not new, the high involvement of the population in genocide and massacres exacerbated it as the youth were manipulated to take a big part in them as spearheads of different militias. That is why special attention must be geared towards them at least for three main reasons:

It is quite difficult to gather and get any documented information on youth in Rwanda. Nevertheless there are some acknowledged material and statistical data, especially in areas where children below 18 are concerned. UNICEF is the prominent source of information about children, thanks to its publications: reports, research, and documentation on its activities in Rwanda. Of course UNICEF seems to be an institution for coordination of all activities related to children. But for other UN agencies there are few publications or reviews available about children situation. And as far as public institutions are concerned, no document or publication related to youth rights and youth movements have been found.

How to define the child/youth? Most stakeholders and actors in youth programmes combine both children and adults Youth (0-35 years) without distinction. Moreover, the impact of this combination is enormous in terms of responding effectively to the basic specific needs of specific categories (children like babies, and Youth like adult ).

Quite often case studies from NGOs and other stakeholders experience, categorise and divide youth programs into two separate sub programmes one for children (minor) and another one for adult youth because their needs are different. In Rwanda, strategies for promoting youth from 0-13 years old are under the ministry of administration and local government (MINALOC) and under the ministry of family and gender promotion (MIGEPROFE), while another group of youth age from 14 years old up to 35 is under the ministry of youth culture and sports (MIJESPOC). This is another gap and most of time leads to confusion.

After the 1990’s war and the 1994 genocide, some programmes and projects related to youth and child were carried out by different stakeholders: government, NGOs, IGOs, and local associations. Most of these projects or programmes were based on emergency needs of youth and children in the aftermath of genocide and massacres: emergency social support, reunification and family reintegration or other related projects.

Several important initiatives have been undertaken in order to promote youth representation and reinforce their participation in political and social decision-making.

In 1998, the youth elected their representation structures up to national level which establishes youth councils at all administrative level under a Youth National Council represented in the National Parliament elected by the youth.

The majority of the youth interviewed (61%) are still single. 30% are married. Most young men marry at the age between 21 and 25 years (46%), while young women marry at a younger age: 51 % marry under the age of 20 years.

Considering that the legal minimum age of marriage in Rwanda is 21 years, it appears that many couples are "illegally married". They however consider themselves married and often have children.

Divorce is quite rare. Only 3 % of the interviewed declared divorced or in separation. One has to note that of these 26 cases 22 (85%) are women. It is therefore an indicator that it is easier for a man to remarry than for a woman, who also in general has children to look after.

It was observed that in 30 % of cases, the head of the household is a woman. The "head of household status" is diversely distributed trough ages, but the most important group (24%) had 50 years and above.

With 4,9 persons by household, the average is not very high. Singled households are very rare in Rwanda, certainly also because living alone is very expensive and the African tradition allows cohabitation of several generations. The majority (56%) of household members are above 18 years.

The situation of ownership of shelter is quite different between urban and rural areas. In urban areas 43% of households rent their house while only 3% do in rural areas.

Also 21% households in rural areas live in free houses for only 6% in urban areas. In rural areas surveyed, a big number of the population live in "imidugudu", grouped habitat provided graciously by the State or NGOs.

Expenses due to rents in towns is considerably high which leads to great mobility.

According to the number of people by household, in general a room is shared between 3 people, which is quite reasonable. A tiny number (0.7) of youth have a personal room.

In terms of equipment, there is a big difference between the rural and urban areas. Beds, tables and chairs are common in town, (73%) own a radio receiver, (35%) a television post and (31%) an iron. In rural areas, (44%) have a receiver and no electric tools, not only because of a small purchasing power but also because of lack of electricity.

77 % of the youth only move around on foot, although in town 10% go by Motor-Taxi and 11% by public transport buses.

For 78% urban households electricity is the source of energy. However, due to its cost and regular shortages, petrol is also relied on by 19%, while it is paramount (93%) in rural areas. 5% still use wood fire for light in rural areas.

For teenagers to emancipate and be confident, a certain economic autonomy is needed. A financial dependency at maturity should be exceptional. We therefore looked at the youth’s capacity of private property.

Generally speaking, the youth are very poor. Clothes are their almost only property (98%); 61% do not even own a mattress. However, 31% own a radio receiver among whom 53% live in town. 21 % own a small land which not negligible. 19% have a bank account and have sport and entertainment equipment.

Owning money is for a youth a sign of independence which important for his/her personality development.

It has been observed that 51% have no revenue and depend entirely on other family members, which render them easy targets of false promises, criminality and other lures for "easy money". The majority of these youth live in rural areas, most of them are women.

Considering one US$ per person per day as the poverty line, three youth out of four live under this line, with only 19% who can afford 1.8 US$ or more.

62% of youth get their money from their work while 15% get it from gifts from family members and other sources. 57% get their money from irregular sources, which makes expenses planning difficult if not impossible. Almost all the youth use their money for appearance (clothes, cosmetics,…), 40% spend it on drinks and 29% on training.

21% of the youth between 14 and 35 years are at school, secondary or higher and 79% are in principle available on the work market. Among the last, 38% say to have a regular job while 20% work occasionally. The remaining 42% stay at home and their main activity is helping at home, on the farm or running after a job, so that 62% of the available youth on the work market are unemployed or have occasional work.

The situation is quite problematic in rural areas, which is likely to lead to rural exodus. The majority of the youth with a job is over 25 years. Having a stable work takes a long time, therefore the necessity of a national policy for employment and economic development.

What are the conditions of economic success for a Rwandan youth? The "Top 20" with more than 25.000 FRw (54 US$) per month.

One must first live in town, only 2% of the group live in rural areas, and also be over 26 years with some experience (71%-65%) and at 65% a man.

Women are generally handicapped in the search of work, keeping in mind that many young girls marry under 20 years of age, which makes it difficult to combine running the household and a regular job. 68% of those with a regular job are men.

81% of those working regularly are employed (68% by the civil service) while only 16% are self-employed. They seem to prefer the relative security to uncertain opportunities.

The civil service and state owned establishments are advantageous on several grounds: contract, health insurance, work regulations that care for the well being of collaborators and regularly paid salaries.

On the other hand, the private sector does not provide such facilities, where only 15% have health insurance. Except NGOs that give a good salary, the state even pays better than the private sector, where more than a half live under the one US$ poverty line.

Once again the divide between urban and rural areas is apparent when even the women with a regular work live under the poverty line with less than 500 FRw per day.

Concerning child labour, the situation is rather favourable. 79% of boys and 89% of girls began a remunerated job between 19 and 22 years of age. Less than 1% mentioned having started work below 14 years. However, one should mention that work done for the household (fetching water and firewood, taking care of smaller children, farm work and most sensible housekeeping) was not taken into account.

Years of instability, war and famine obliged the population to leave their homes and property and move to other places. Such a situation of uncertainty is a jeopardising factor for a sustainable development. The study aims at measuring the level at which the youth have been affected during these eleven years.

Results surprisingly showed that the important mobility was mainly local. Although only 54% said to have lived in the same zone since 1990, 86% have gone beyond their province. Considering the massive movements by the population as a result of genocide and its consequences, it was surprising to find that only 4% have lived outside the country. This could be explained by at least two factors: