Harnessing public interest litigation to confront Sexual Gender Based violence and advance policy evolution.
On January 10th2024, the Center for Justice and advocacy,led by Florida Kabasinga the Executive Director of Certa Foundation assisted Lydia Taima Munganyinka the Director of the Center for Justice and Advocacy appeared as amicus curiae before the Supreme Court in a defilement caseN0. RS/INCONST/SPEC/00001./2023/SC: Prosecution vs. MD in which the defendant pleaded that the Supreme court should rule out that paragraphs 2,3 and 4 of article 4 of the Law No 69/2019of 08/11/2019 that amends the law Nº68/2018 of 30/08/2018 determining offenses and penalties in general do not align with the principle of proportionality and thus do not respect and align with Rwandan Constitution of2003 amended to date in its articles 15 and 16, and that the principle of equality before the law is not fully respected.
Previously, the defendant Mr. M.D was found guilty of a crime of defilement by the High court of Karongi and was sentenced to life imprisonment based on Art 133 (2) of LawNº68/2018 of 30/08/2018 determining offenses and penalties in general. This article was later on revised in article 4 of the Law No 69/2019 of 8/11/2019which stipulates that if ‘a child defiled is below 14 years of age the perpetrator should be sentenced to life imprisonment.
According to the defendant, he should have been sentenced to punishment “less years of imprisonment”. Infact, the defendant finds the penalties “unreasonable and too extreme” compared to other penalties. In this case the defendant’s allegations reinforce the stereotype that “sexual violence is not that severe” or that it is not “that bad” and because of that, it is not reasonable to establish a sentence of life imprisonment.
During the proceedings, our team presented a comprehensive research study addressing various crucial aspects that contributed to inter-alia: an examination of the justification for penalties assigned to defilement cases, addressing gender stereotypes inherent in such situations and their potential impact on the administration of justice, an exploration of international jurisprudence discouraging the use of concepts like the hymen in court proceedings, highlighting the severity of defilement crimes compared to other offenses, and emphasizing the state's due diligence. These arguments are intricately tied to the Center's overarching mission of gender policy advocacy.