The

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

was adopted by

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

on May 26, 2003. It replaced the older Constitution of 1991. The Constitution provides for a presidential system of government, with separation of powers between the three branches. It condemns the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

in the preamble, expressing hope for reconciliation and prosperity.

History

Between 1994 and 2003 Rwanda was governed by a set of documents combining President Habyarimana's 1991 Constitution, the Arusha Accords, and some additional protocols introduced by the transitional government. As required by the Accords,

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame (; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who is the 4th and current president of Rwanda since 2000. He previously served as a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a Uganda-based rebel ...

set up a Constitutional Commission to draft a new permanent Constitution. The Constitution was required to adhere to a set of fundamental principles including equitable power sharing and democracy. The Commission sought to ensure that the draft Constitution was "home-grown", relevant to Rwanda's specific needs and reflected the views of the entire population. They sent questionnaires to civil groups across the country and rejected offers of help from the international community, except for financial assistance. The draft constitution was released in 2003; it was approved by the Parliament, and was then put to a referendum in May of that year. The government gave the referendum a high profile, which meant that ultimately of eligible adults registered to vote and the turnout on voting day was . The constitution was overwhelmingly accepted, with voting in favour. This constitution, among other things, changed the country's official name from "Rwandese Republic" to "Republic of Rwanda". A referendum on the Rwandan constitution was held on 18 December 2015. The amendments would allow President

to run for a third term in office in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

, as well as shortening presidential terms from seven to five years, although the latter change would not come into effect until 2024.Paul Kagame's third term: Rwanda referendum on 18 December
BBC News, 9 December 2015 They were approved by around 98% of voters.Rwanda vote 'allows Kagame to extend term in office'
BBC News, 19 December 2015

Overview

The constitution provides for a two house parliament, an elected President serving seven year terms, and multi-party politics. The constitution also sought to prevent Hutu or Tutsi hegemony over political power. Article 54 states that "political organizations are prohibited from basing themselves on race, ethnic group, tribe, clan, region, sex, religion or any other division which may give rise to discrimination". In general it was men who had organised the

and they were disproportionately the victims. The constitution reserved 24 of the 80 seats for women and this did not preclude other women from competing for the remaining seats in the lower house. This lower house has had nearly half of its members being female. Six places are also reserved for women in the upper house. According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human ...

, this clause along with later laws enacted by Parliament effectively make Rwanda a one-party state, as "under the guise of preventing another genocide, the government displays a marked intolerance of the most basic forms of dissent".

Detail

Clause 179 of the constitution is concerned with the aftermath of the

and it creates the

National Commission for the Fight against Genocide The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) is a Rwandan organisation that is concerned with the 1994 Rwanda genocide. They are involved with studying what happened. Their mission is to preserve the memory of the crimes and to stu ...

in Kigali.

Notes

References

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External links

Constitution of Rwanda
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the original
on 2009-03-25'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Constitution Of Rwanda Government of Rwanda Politics of Rwanda