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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In July 1994, Rwanda was faced with rebuilding itself as a nation
and as a society: "starting from zero" genocide and war, in
addition to causing the death of over half a million persons, had
forced more than 2 million to flee across borders, destroyed the
country's infrastrticture and public services, and left the great
majority of survivors - children and adults - psychologically
traumatized. In those conditions and with neither experience nor
resources, the new Government stated its intentions to bring
about stability and justice and promised to instil basic changes in
Rwandan society -even at the cost of starting from zero.
Likewise, the numerous organizations and agencies providing
assistance to Rwanda were also searching for a starting-point:
the combined gravity, scope and scale of the problems they had
to confront were unprecedented for virtually all, freqtiently
creating major dilemmas for their staff. And respect for human
rights, including for the letter and the spirit of the 1989 United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), had to start
from zero, too.
This Innocenti Insight is a critical review - but in no way a formal
evaluation - of some of the main facets of the international
cooperation undertaken on behalf of children in Rwanda from July
1994 to December 1996, with special reference to its consonance
with, and promotion of the spirit and the letter of the CRC. Taking
as its main base the experience of UNICEF the study also con-
siders other actors, particularly the foreign non-governmental
community, in attempting to determine the Convention real
impact on approach and programming. The whole is set against
the back-ground of the realities faced by the population and the
policies pursued by the Rwandan authorities. While the focus of
the study is on the events that took place in post-genocide
Rwanda, there are inevitahly ramifications for, and links with,
other post-conflict situations.
The basic premise of the study is that respect for the CRC
involves a full understanding not only of its content but also of
the human rights context that surrounds it, the intentions of the
drafters and the approach to implementation that it embodies. Its
limitations as an international treaty also have to be recognized:
the CRC cannot be turned into a kind of programme of action,
even if it provides a common reference point for tackling children's
issues and guidelines flit action in favour of their rights.
The study examines the efforts to respond both to general
problems affecting children and to sittiations faced by specific
groups in post genocide Rwanda. The dcscriptive analyses bring
to light gaps in applying the CRC approach, whether in the fields
of juvenile justice and demobilization of children from the armed
forces, for example, in those of education, disalility and provision
of substitute care, among others. The tendcncy in fact has been
for UNICEF and others to have recourse to the CRC more
particularly in regard to assistance to children in specific
situations of extreme difficulty the CRC should also be used as a
basis for realizing the right uf all children to access to basic
services.
The tens of thousands of unaccompanied children in Rwanda, the
centres or so -called orphanages' that have sprung up to
accommodate them, and the practices of family, reunification and
foster care provide a graphic example of how correctly applying
the rights contained in the Convention can rarely be a clear-cut
exercise. Reuniting children with their immediate or extended
families - or at least providing family- based care - is generally the
ultimate objective in such cases, avoiding institutional care
wherever possible. However, in a context as extreme as that of
Rwanda, where killings took place within extended families, for
example, and where the chances of ending up in dire poverty are
very great, placing a child with his or her family at all costs can
result in a serious rights violations . Iikewise, although most
informal foster care arrangements are undoubtedly offered in the
spirit of solidaritv, there is nevertheless a very high risk that
some of the children concerned are being subjected to
exploitation or destittition.
International organizations, including foreign NGO's and
intergovernmental agencies, have had a massive presence and
influence in post-genocide Rwanda. While many examples of
positive -sometimes clearly, vital - actions exist, the overall effort
has too often been characterized by a lack of coordination and
cooperation. This has seriously undermined the sustainability of
certain of the measures taken and strained relations with the
authorities (who often work with far fewer resources than an
international NGO's or UN agency). 'Tensions between the
Rwandan authorities and NGOs were vividly illustrated by the
Government's expulsion of 3 organisations in late 1995. The
whole situation has been complicated by the role of donors, who
sometimes insist on financing activities that do not relate to
government policy or priorities - or to the expressed needs of
recipients.
The study demonstrates that the CRC clearly urges ,States
Parties to seek and assent to international cooperation when
necessary to ensure that the rights in the Convention are
respected. It shows as being equally significant - and this applies
directly to the experiences in Rwanda - the fact that international
cooperation as explicitly and implicitly envisaged by the CRC;
must be competent in nature and should in principle be primarily
directed at helping States Parties in their efforts to implement the
treaty's provisions. In other words, there are cooperative
obligations set out in the CRC that need to be complied with, by
all concerned, in order for it to be fully realized. UNICEF, as an
intergovernmental organization and lead UN agency for
promoting the CRC anyway has an obligation to cooperate with
governments. The study contends that, to maximize the impact of
the CRC, UNICEF should therefore be seeking above all to ensure
that being at the service of a government and of the children
within the latter's jurisdiction are not incompatible mandates.
Throughout the study, many specific concerns about the impact of
the CRC are expressed; in addition, the last section provides an
overall review of implications for CRC -based strategic choices in
terms of the Rwandan experience and of the pitfalls and gaps
that it has brotight to light. It strongly reiterates the fundamental
cooperation requirement', but also highlights:
The negative and indirect ramifications of donors' decisions to
channel most funds through intergovernmental agencies and
foreign NGOs, rather than provide the concerned national
authorities with resources directly and monitor their use;
The way that 'technical assistance' in response to specific
requests has too often become confused with efforts to secure
decisive influence on outcomes;
The urgency of regulating the involvement of organizations and
their personnel in emergency and post-emergency situations;
The basic fallacy of the debate over whether scarce resources
should be devoted to micro-problems - now often seen as
equivalent to 'children in especially difficult circumstances' - as
opposed to macro-issues such as basic health and education.
The study ends by suggesting the key importance of genuine
consistency, based on the CRC in the part of organizations
involved with child-focused programmes. Unless they embrace
the full implications of the treaty, they cannot expect the rights of
the child to become a fundamental ethic for the recovery and
reconstruction of devastated societies such as that of Rwanda.