Ahead of the game: land tenure reform in Rwanda and the process of securing women's land rights

Abstract

The Rwandan Constitution of 2003, the National Land Policy of 2004 and the Organic Land Law of 2005 all contain clear provisions which add up to a mandate for gender equality in land rights and set out a context in which all land shall be registered and rights gained under different means of access to land shall be considered equal. The Rwandan Succession Law of 1999 had already established the principle of equal inheritance rights to land for men and women. Articles from these four core documents together comprise the new body of land policy and law in Rwanda which is currently in the process of being implemented. This paper argues that an iterative approach to planning for the implementation of land tenure reform in Rwanda over a long period of research and consultations, including field consultations and subsequent “trial interventions”, and involving both government and civil society, has enabled the issue of how to secure women's land rights to be more fully considered within the overall land tenure reform process. This comes in a country with particular and unique post-Genocide circumstances that enabled women to gain their new land inheritance rights on paper early on. Evidence gathered by the authors suggests that these paper rights are already beginning to affect social relations and land inheritance patterns in practice. Moreover, women's land rights retain a prominence on the political agenda in Rwanda, positing an “enabling” environment for some crucial articles in the secondary legislation required for implementation to be drafted.

Keywords:

• Rwanda
• land tenure reform
• gender equality
• Succession Law
• Organic Land Law

Notes

1. Many books and films have been produced about the events of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. One of the best analytical accounts is Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers. See also Dallaire's eyewitness account, Shake Hands with the Devil, and des Forges, Leave None.

2. See André, “Rwandan Land”; André and Platteau, Land Tenure; Jones, “The Evolution,” and Pottier, “Land Reform,” for background on land as a critical factor in the Genocide. See also Musahara and Huggins, “Land Reform,” and Shyaka, “Rwandan Conflict,” for particularly nuanced arguments on this subject.

3. Old case refugees were those (Tutsis and moderate Hutus) returning into the country from mainly Uganda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire) in the immediate wake of the Genocide. New case refugees were those (mainly Hutus) who fled out of the country in front of the incoming RPF forces but returned later in 1994 and, more numerously, at the end of 1996 and in 1997. See Bruce, “Drawing a Line,” for an excellent historical account of refugee and resettlement issues in post-Genocide Rwanda.

4. This was a continuation of attention to refugee-related land issues during the Arusha peace negotiations in the early 1990s, which have set part of the terms of reference for all subsequent discussions about land; see Bruce, “Drawing a Line.” More generally, land ownership had received considerable attention under most previous Rwandan governments, before and after Independence, especially in light of ongoing ethnic tensions and movements of people; see Pottier, “Land Reform,” and André, “Rwandan Land,” for well-documented accounts of historical struggles by the state to control land ownership.

5. See Hilhorst and van Leeuwen, Imidugudu; Human Rights Watch, Uprooting; Jones, “The Evolution,” and RISD, “Survey Report,” for critical commentaries on the background to and implementation of the villagisation policy in Rwanda. See Gasarasi and Musahara, The Land Question, and MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” for discussions of land sharing. Bruce, “Drawing a Line,” also reviews both policies.

6. See Powley, “Rwanda: The Impact,” on the substantial political impact of women's increased public role to date, and Burnet, “Gender Balance,” on the longer term significance of the government's promotion of gender equality. In its most recent national elections (September 2008), Rwanda became the first country in the world to elect a parliament with more than 50% of its members women. http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=736, and see also http://www.ipu.org/press-e/gen176.htm on the 2003 elections, where parliamentary gender parity was almost reached, putting Rwanda at the top of the Inter-Parliamentary Union's world ranking of women in national parliaments.

7. Powley, “Rwanda: The Impact,” 11.

8. Interviewed by Powley on June 28, 2002 and cited in “Rwanda: The Impact,” 12.

9. GOR, Law No 22/99 of 12/11/1999 to Supplement Book One of the Civil Code and to Institute Part Five Regarding Matrimonial Regimes, Liberalities and Successions – hereafter referred to as the Succession Law.

10. Powley, “Rwanda: The Impact,” 12.

11. See Brinn et al., Assessment; Palmer, A Review, and RISD, “Survey Report.”

12. GOR, National Land Policy. The precise legal status of this document remains unclear (see McAuslan, “Personal Reflections”), but it has been official policy as understood by ourselves throughout our time working in Rwanda.

13. GOR, Organic Law No 08/2005 of 14/07/2005 Determining the Use and Management of Land in Rwanda, hereafter referred to as the Organic Land Law (OLL).

14. GOR, Census 2002; GOR, National Land Policy, 7.

15. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 1; GOR, National Land Policy, 8–9; NISR, Preliminary, 26.

16. . See André, “Rwanda Land”; Pottier, “Land Reform.”

17. . http://www.gov.rw/government/nationalcensus2002.html; http://www.accordinternational.org/index.php/news/The_challenges_of_Women/girl_child_headed_households_in_Rwanda.

18. NISR and MINECOFIN, Rwanda Demographic, 172, 177.

19. Daley, “Land Overview,” 2, drawing on Diao and Yu, “Agricultural Growth,” 23, 25.

20. Succession Law, Articles 70 and 24.

21. Under “limited community of acquests” spouses are required to make an inventory of their existing property at the time of marriage and decide which items are to become jointly owned and which are to remain separately owned. Under “separate property,” each spouse retains separate ownership of all his or her existing property and accumulates separately during the marital union. Succession Law, Articles 7 and 8. See also Brown and Uvuza, Women's Land Rights.

22. Powley, “Rwanda: The Impact,” 11.

23. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 54–6.

24. Article 81 lays down the membership of the Council of Succession to include the surviving spouse, a majority age child of the deceased and two representatives each of the deceased's family and the surviving spouse's family. Under Article 82, “the family of the deceased shall appoint the President of the Council of Succession and that of the surviving spouse shall appoint the Secretary”.

25. See Daley et al., “Afterword,” 163. In Rwanda all legislation is published in the Official Gazette in the three official languages (Kinyarwanda, English and French). The common understanding is that the Kinyarwanda version takes precedence, being the country's “first” language, but, as McAuslan argues in this issue, this is unlikely to be legally the case.

26. See McAuslan, “Personal Reflections” on consent issues, which we do not discuss here.

27. Daley and Hobley, Land, 43, and see also DFID Rwanda, “Project Memorandum.”

28. See Norfolk and Mutijima, “Project Completion.” We use the term “Ministry of Lands” throughout this article to refer to the current Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA) and the former Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE); the change of name followed a government restructuring in March 2008.

29. DFID Rwanda, “Project Memorandum,” 3.

30. See McAuslan, “Personal Reflections.”

31. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Phase 1,” 22–5; Norfolk and Mutijima, “Project Completion.”

32. Personal observations from Rachel Dore-Weeks’ experience of sitting as a member of LandNet Rwanda in 2006 and 2007. See also Bruce, “Drawing a Line,” on LandNet Rwanda.

33. HAGURUKA, Etude sur l'Application.

34. The NLTRP fieldwork involved consultations in three rural districts of Rwanda (Karongi, Kirehe and Musanze) and one urban district (Gasabo) with over 2500 people through 139 structured stakeholder interviews and 229 focus group discussions, of which 46 focus groups contained only women and at least 16 contained only men. The AR fieldwork involved 125 in-depth interviews in the same four districts. See MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating.

35. Elizabeth Daley led the NLTRP field consultations from March to September 2006; she worked subsequently on preparations for the trial interventions and led the initial impact assessment of the first NLTRP land tenure regularisation (LTR) field trial in Karongi District. From July 2007 to July 2008 she worked as an independent consultant in the land sector in Rwanda, including for the Ministry of Lands’ “Rwanda Land Use and Development Master Plan Project” and for an NGO land dispute resolution programme. Rachel Dore-Weeks led the AR field research with Kelly Arnesen from September 2006 to January 2007 and then worked in Rwanda as an independent consultant on gender and community participation until July 2007. Claudine Umuhoza was part of the AR field research team and then joined the NLTRP in March 2007 to work on the initial impact assessment of the Karongi District LTR field trial. She subsequently worked as a Community Liaison Officer on the Gasabo District LTR field trial, took part in a socio-economic and land tenure baseline survey carried out in July 2008, and became NLTRP Field Coordinator until DFID's first phase of support ended in May 2009, whereupon she has taken up employment as a Professional in charge of Land Registration at the National Land Centre. We draw extensively on our personal knowledge and experiences obtained between 2006 and 2009 in writing this article, which includes experiences obtained during our official work. However, our arguments and conclusions are entirely our own and do not necessarily represent those of the different organisations we have worked for. We also acknowledge here the valuable inputs and feedback on our developing ideas that came from our many colleagues in the field and in our respective organisations during this time. From the AR research these include Rakiya Omaar (Director of African Rights), Kelly Arnesen, John Kimenyi, Joy Tracey, and Patrick Osodo and Dagmar F⊘rland from Norwegian People's Aid for funding and supporting the research. From the NLTRP field consultations we thank especially Clive English (Team Leader of the DFID Project), Martin Adams, Jacques Cyubahiro, Goretti Dusabe, Hon. Patricia Hajabakiga, John Bosco Iyadema, Annie Kairaba, François Kamanzi, Olivia Kamusiime, Bert Koppers, Hope Kyomugisha, Patrick McAuslan, Pierre Damien Mwambari, Thierry Hoza Ngoga, Emmanuel Nsanzumuganwa, Didier Milindi Rugema, Eugène Rurangwa, Jacqueline Wamukama, and Rodney Dyer of DFID. A great many other people in Rwanda are also due thanks for lending support to our fieldwork, from government, civil society and the public – not least all our interviewees and discussion participants – but it is unfortunately not possible to list them all here.

36. GOR, National Land Policy, 20.

37. GOR, National Land Policy, Chapter 5.1.2.1, 26.

38. GOR, National Land Policy, Chapter 3.5, 20.

39. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 23; Jefremovas, “Loose Women.”

40. Jefremovas, “Loose Women.” See also Burnet, “Culture,” for a detailed historical account of women's land rights in Rwanda.

41. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 92–3.

42. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 40.

43. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 55.

44. See Agarwal, A Field, Chapter 2, on the conceptual basis of a bargaining approach to women's land rights.

45. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 27.

46. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 5.

47. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd., “Results,” 119.

48. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd., “Results,” 59.

49. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd., “Results,” 58.

50. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 48.

51. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 26. As we note below, however, local authorities and Abunzi have received further training and sensitisation on the land reform process and the content of the laws since our fieldwork in 2006.

52. In 2005/06, the government's second Integrated Household Living Standards Survey found only 56.9% of the population living below the poverty line (NISR, Preliminary, viii), compared to 69.3% in 1999 (Pottier, “Land Reform,” 517). Despite this impressive improvement in living standards, poverty remains an issue for the majority.

53. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 54.

54. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 112. An additional concern for some men and women was that plots under one hectare might be subject to land consolidation as described in the OLL, particularly if the landowners were not able to effectively exploit their land. We found that Rwandan women seemed to have less access to extension services than men, and were therefore at greater risk of not being able to effectively exploit their land. This potential problem is then compounded where women are inheriting smaller, more remote and less fertile fields.

55. Interviewed by Kelly Arnesen, Musanze District, August 20, 2006.

56. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 90.

57. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 83.

58. Daley, “Land Overview,” 8.

59. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 106, 119.

60. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 30.

61. Dore-Weeks and Arnesen, Facilitating, 5.

62. Daley, “Land Overview,” 7–8.

63. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd., “Results,” 118.

64. Daley, “Land Overview,” 8–9.

65. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd, “Results,” 121.

66. Information on the secondary legislation obtained in interview conducted by Elizabeth Daley with a Deputy Registrar of Land Titles, National Land Centre, Kigali, January 24, 2008, during preparation of Daley, “Land Overview”. While most of the secondary legislation needed to implement the OLL has been drafted at the time the present article goes to press (March 2010), much of it still awaits formal adoption and publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda. See also Norfolk and Mutijima, “Project Completion,” who note as of May 2009 that “the procedures for recording the names of legal wives do not address the position of women in polygamous or ‘unrecognised’ marriages … [however] There is evidence from the field trials that in a significant number of cases wives in unrecognised unions are able to register parcels of land (‘shared’ with their husbands) in their own names.” Compare with Flintan, “Sitting at the Table”, in this issue on land registration in cases of polygamy in Ethiopia.

67. The video was shown at the Ministry's “Strategic Road Map” Workshop in October 2007. MINITERE/DFID/HTSPE Ltd., “Workshop.”

68. Norfolk and Mutijima, “Project Completion.”

69. The points made in this paragraph originate from a number of informal conversations in late 2006 and early 2007 between Elizabeth Daley, Hon. Patricia Hajabakiga (then Minister of State for Lands) and Goretti Dusabe (now Deputy Registrar of Land Titles in the NLC).

70. See also Englert and Daley, “Introduction,” and Daley and Englert, “Securing Land Rights.”