Rwanda Law Reform Commission (RLRC) has started the process of reviewing the country’s Penal Code with four guiding criterias; deterrence character of a Penal Code provision; rehabilitation of the offender; incapacitation of the offender and proportionality.

According to John Gara, chairperson of RLRC, the reform of the Penal Code will include restructuring and omitting certain provisions or putting in place other new ones altogether.

The current Penal Code has 766 articles and after the review, these will be reduced to not more than 500.

"As regards the deterrence character, it is important because it prevents crimes that would affect the entire society. Crimes such as human trafficking, corruption and many others that did not exist in the past but are on the rise today. The question is that, how can we best punish someone so that others will take note and abscond from doing the same?” he said.

By incapacitation of the offender, a long-term prison sentence would keep criminals away and thus prevent them from repeating their act but these; Gara said, should only be applied to the most serious of crimes.

Still a draft

Lambert Dushimimana, a senior legislative drafting specialist with RLRC, told reporters that whatever has been done "up to now” is still a draft and that everything is open to discussion.

The Penal Code is being changed both in structure and in substance.

He said that for example, a number of provisions were moved to other chapters or sections where they ought to be, while other provisions were merged with others because they are closely related and therefore, do not have to be separated in different provisions.

Some other provisions were removed from the Penal Code either because they are already embodied in other laws – such as the law on criminal procedure, or the law on extradition – or because they are not relevant.

The structure is also being modified by the introduction of new provisions drawn from other laws in order to complete some provisions and offences in the Penal Code such as the case where provisions were drawn from the Law on genocide ideology, the draft law on the prevention of discrimination, or those drawn from foreign penal codes.

On the other hand, officials explained that as far as the substance is concerned, provisions of the Penal Code were substantially analyzed one by one and, content changed where analysis revealed conceptual mistakes.

Prostitution, adultery decriminalised

According to Dushimimana, the style of drafting also looked into some provisions that are ambiguous due to drafting errors, while new offenses were introduced and others removed given the guiding criteria.

Those removed, he explained include issues such as prostitution and adultery.

Dushimimana said, "If prostitution is not a crime, then why should a person caught with a prostitute be punished?

The debate still continues but in some of these cases, we looked at what is the best practice in other countries.”

The clauses introduced, he said, include elements concerning incest attempted suicide, rape of a minor by a minor, and abortion.

Dushimimana explained that abortion was brought in due to the Maputo Protocol which Rwanda ratified.

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the Maputo Protocol, guarantees comprehensive rights to women including the right to take part in the political process, to social and political equality with men, to control of their reproductive health, and an end to female genital mutilation.

Among others, it has a provision authorising "medicalised abortion” for raped women or where pregnancy endangers the woman’s health.

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