Rwanda

Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa. Made up of mostly poor farmers, it is one of the world’s five poorest countries. The poor are marginalized to areas of the country where crops barely grow. Furthermore, soil erosion is decreasing the amount of fertile land and is being eroded even more rapidly because nearly every cultivatable land is being used and none is left alone to regenerate. There are no readily available alternatives to subsistence farming and as a consequence, two-thirds of the population in Rwanda are unable to meet the minimum food energy requirement. There’s not enough land, income, or other resources to satisfy their basic needs, which drives them to live precariously. It is ranked 159 out of 177 countries in human development with about 84.6% of Rwandans living on $2 or less per day. Moreover, 59% of the population lives without sustainable access to clean water.

Rwanda’s poverty lies in its inability to achieve increased productivity in accordance with its high population growth. This led to a series of problems culminating in the Rwandan genocide, which reaches deeper than ethnic hatred. About 60% of the population is living in poverty and 30% of Rwandans in rural areas are unemployed. More specifically, poverty in Rwanda can be attributed to many interlocking factors such as land, demography, environmental degradation, bad governance, and limited sources for growth. Its problem dates back many years due to its declining agricultural productivity, high population growth, famine and cyclical droughts, low human resource development, limited employment opportunities, and environmental degradation.

The Rwandan genocide and the civil war of 1994 in Rwanda marked the peak of human rights violation in Rwanda. The record of human rights in Rwanda remains poor. The government restricts freedom of speech and of the press, as well as the right to freedom of assembly and association. In some cases, freedom of religion was also restricted by the local government officials. Perhaps the biggest human right violation in Rwanda is their inability to change their government.

Many of the human rights abuses were committed by the security forces and were not reported. There are instances, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where security forces acted independently of government authority. The human rights violation situation in Rwanda includes unlawful killings, disappearances within the country, and other serious abuses. Citizens were arbitrarily arrested and detained for prolonged periods without trial. Security forces beat suspects, but there were no reports that prisoners died of torture or abuse. Prisoners were subjected to life threatening conditions; many died of disease and the cumulative effects of severe overcrowding. The judiciary was under executive influence and did not always ensure due process or expeditious trials. Meanwhile, the Government continues to conduct genocide trials at a slow pace.

The Government also forcibly sent refugees to unsafe areas in the DRC, and harassed those who refused to leave voluntarily. Street children were placed into inadequate and unsafe detention centers and child labor continues to persist in the agricultural sector. Societal violence and discrimination against women and ethnic minorities remain serious problems.

Rwanda is very hard hit with AIDS. About 2.5 million adults and children in Rwanda are living with HIV and 22,000 of them are under the age of 16. The risk of contracting AIDS/HIV in Rwanda is very high, with a 5.1% prevalence rate, which makes it an epidemic. The life expectancy in Rwanda is only 40 years. The AIDS epidemic effect children’s lives devastatingly. When their parents die, the children are orphaned and left to fend for themselves. This is especially hard hit on the girls, or the eldest girl in the family, because they become the head of household and are usually prevented from living a full life.

Women with AIDS who are pregnant normally deliver their babies at home, which have serious implications for mother-to-child HIV transmission. Many Rwandans living with AIDS are shunned and stigmatized by the disease. They lack money for medicine and not many health services are available to treat AIDs. They live in silence and fear of disclosing their disease.

636 cases of meningcoccal disease have been reported as of September 2002. It has killed over 80 people in 8 out of 10 provinces in Rwanda. Vaccine initiatives have been taken to vaccinate populations in the at-risk areas. 2 million vaccines have been issued thus far.

Other major infectious diseases include bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and malaria.

Rwanda’s environmental issues include deforestation, overgrazing, soil exhaustion, soil erosion, and widespread poaching.

Deforestation occurred as refugees began returning to the country and those with low incomes increasingly used the forest’s trees as a source for fuel, as well as for faming and grazing. The forest also served as their shelter which contributed to the negative impacts on the environment, including loss of biodiversity.

Land is divided in small farm plots called shambas (about 2.5 acres each) and is used extensively for farming and grazing cattle. About 90% of Rwanda’s lands are cultivated to feed its growing population, so much that it has depleted the nutrients in its soil. The population is living above the carrying capacity of the country and it is estimated that each year, 23,000 more families will need new land plots to farm food and raise livestock.

The government is beginning to manage Rwanda’s environment to better sustain its natural resources. Initiatives to slow deforestation rates and to increase reforestation rates has recently been implemented to increase living standards in Rwanda and to safeguard their land resources for future generations.

About 70% of Rwanda’s population is literate. Up until 1959 when the civil war broke out, the Tutsi’s were the only ones privileged with secondary education, which trained them for colonial administrative jobs. However, this resulted in tension with other ethnic groups and culminated in the Rwandan genocide where many Tutsi’s were killed. When independence was declared, the education system regained its strength. The government contributed 15% of its national budget to education. Overall enrollment in primary education had an 8% increase rate, though it still has one of the worst repetition rates in the sub-saharan region.

Parents also began to recognize the importance of secondary education, leading to the sprouting of public and private secondary schools to increase capacity. The government has also put in efforts to increase the number of students and teachers in secondary schools.

At the higher education level, there are currently 20 institutions of higher learning. Enrollment rates in the public and private institutions have tripled with 26,796 students compared to 24,948 students during the 2003/04 year. However, there continues to be a gender disparity in the sector of higher education with about 10,543 female students compared to 16,253 male students. There are also few girls who study mathematics, science, and technology. The gender disparity is more pronounced in the teacher training colleges (especially amongst secondary school teachers) where 90% of teachers are male and only 10% are female.

Information Currently Unavailable

Information Currently Unavailable