III. Recommendations

To the Rwandan government

Order all police officers and other agents of the state to respect the lives and physical integrity of all detainees; prosecute any who kill or torture persons in custody, including in instances meant to influence their testimony, or the obtaining of testimony.
Order all agents of the state to respect the presumption of innocence and to end the use of collective punishments.
Direct state agents to uphold the right to equal access to justice, including by prosecuting violations of international humanitarian law by RPA soldiers.
Provide increased resources to the judicial system to facilitate the hiring of more judges and prosecutors, to reduce the backlog of cases awaiting trial, to permit the witness protection service to expand its activities, and to improve conditions inside the prisons.
Ratify the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as well as the Optional Protocol relative to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) relating to abolishing the death penalty.
Establish a mechanism that allows the public to know the proposed content of resolutions and to follow their progress.

Direct prosecutors and gacaca jurisdictions to register only those accusations that have been rigorously vetted and to pursue prosecution of persons who knowingly accuse others falsely.
Investigate, prosecute, and punish appropriately, all war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA).
Expand the program to protect and assist victims and witnesses and assure that witnesses of both prosecution and defense have access to its service.
Enforce legal provisions requiring authorities to respect defendants’ rights and comply with court orders.

Revise the Penal Code to set sanctions for state agents who fail to execute judicial orders.
Revise the Penal Code to make intimidating or tampering with witnesses or judicial personnel a crime.
Revise the Code of Criminal Procedure to disallow the admittance into evidence of any witness statements or confessions made under duress or coercion.
Revise the Code of Criminal Procedure and the 2004 and 2007 gacaca laws to clearly prohibit the trial or punishment of an accused already convicted or acquitted of the same offence.
Revise the July 2007 law abolishing the death penalty to eliminate the provision for imprisonment in permanent solitary confinement and delete similar provisions from the recently passed law amending gacaca jurisdictions and the proposed revision of the penal code.
Establish the proposed commission on reform of the laws and ensure it has the resources necessary to draft laws that are precise and afford necessary guidance to police and judicial officers.

Continue to vigorously point out cases of apparent injustice to Rwandan authorities and press them for immediate corrective action.
Call on the government to pass proposed revisions to the Penal Code giving judges greater authority to enforce their orders and to delete provision for imprisonment in permanent solitary confinement.
Provide additional funds and assistance for the development of appropriate witness protection programs.
Provide police and other relevant criminal justice agents with training in international human rights law, including international fair trial standards, and the protection of defendants’ rights under Rwandan laws.
Press the UN Security Council to extend the ICTR mandate and assure that funding is provided to permit completion of its full mandate of prosecuting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
Support all efforts to press for and assist the Rwandan government and the ICTR in investigating and prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the RPA between January 1, 1994 and December 31, 1994.
Support independent Rwandan and international nongovernmental organizations seeking to monitor judicial proceedings in Rwanda and to publish the results of their observations.
Respect obligations under the Interpol or European Arrest Warrant systems and encourage Rwandan authorities to do the same.

July 2008