Transparency International Rwanda (TI-Rwanda) has launched a project seeking to promote justice through legal aid and human rights awareness in prisons.

To be implemented in partnership with human rights activists under the umbrella organisation of Rwandan Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ARDHO), the project was launched on Thursday in Kigali.

The three-year project dubbed, "Promotion of equitable justice in Rwanda through improved legal aid and awareness services to detainees and prisoners,” is funded by European Union to a tune of Euro 300,000 (about Rwf244 million).

Apollinaire Mupiganyi, the executive director of Transparency International Rwanda, said the project will be implemented in four districts of Nyamagabe, Musanze, Nyagatare and Rubavu.

"We seek to contribute to strengthening the rule of law in Rwanda by promoting universal and equitable access to quality justice,” Mupiganyi said.

He said the rate of justice professionalism in Rwanda stands at 80 per cent.

"This is a great improvement, compared to previous years, but we still receive complaints of some cases left unattended to, ineffective legal representation in court for minors and female prisoners,” he said.

"We need to engage legal practitioners and reach a common understanding on the existing national and international criminal procedures and related human rights, but also reach out to inmates to inform them of their legal rights and help them to access justice.”

The anti-corruption watchdog also said that although the government has always extended legal representation to some vulnerable detainees such as minors and women, the service has not been effective hence requiring assessment and improvement.

Amb. Valens Munyabagisha, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Internal Security, said ineffective legal representation of detainees and prisoners has been due to insufficient human resource.

"The government has tried as much as possible to provide legal representation to vulnerable prisoners especially minors and women. Of course, perfection is a challenge for now—but bearing in mind where our country is coming from—we are improving by the day,” Munyabagisha said.

He said the government welcomes the project as it will help improve justice and legal representation.

"We will continue to work together with the Ministry of Justice and Rwanda Correctional Services to ensure that legal aid mechanisms are reinforced in prisons for better access to justice,” Munyabagisha added.

The justice sector recently announced that each correctional facility will be allocated a judge who will try inmates from the facility without making cumbersome trips to courts.

Munyabagisha said the recent development in the justice sector had come to improve access to justice and minimise delays in delivering justice.

The Head of the European Union Delegation to Rwanda, Amb. Michael Ryan, noted that during his recent visit to Nyamagabe women’s prison, he learnt that legal representation needed improvement.

"Rwanda has done remarkably well in ensuring access to justice. But those few details need to be supported to ensure quality justice and at the right time,” Ryan said.

According to Francine Umurungi, the TI-Rwanda institutional development and advocacy coordinator, they would be making random visits per week to all the selected prisons to check on the status of access to justice.

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