In promoting universal access to justice, the Government of Rwanda has recognised the importance of promoting dispute resolution at the community level. The focus of Government efforts is to strengthen the Abunzi (community mediation committees) which operate at the cell level. The Abunzi system is designed to decentralise justice, making it affordable (it is free) and accessible.

Abunzi have jurisdiction over civil disputes of a low value and low category criminal cases. In practice, they typically deal with cases related to land, succession, family, paternity, matrimonial, domestic abuse, common assault and theft.

Referral of a matter over which the Abunzi has jurisdiction is mandatory before a case can be filed in the formal court. But Abunzi is not designed to be a first stop into formal justice but rather a community mediation / dispute determination service. Thus, the Lower Instance Court is not an appeal against an Abunzi decision; the matter must be filed as a new case.

Community based: Rwanda has 2,150 Cells across the Country within 30 Districts and a total of 32,400 Abunzi Committee members.

Voluntary: Abunzi are volunteers and the service they provide is free. In order to create an incentive MINIJUST now pays the cost of Abunzi’s families’ health insurance (’Mutuelle’), worth Frw 5,000 per family per year. MINIJUST also supplies one bicycle per Cell to help Abunzi access all parts of their jurisdiction.

Elected: Abunzi Committee members are elected for two years but can be re-elected. The system is designed to give all members of the community an opporunity to serve on the Abunzi; prevent Abunzi becoming complacent in their positions and prevent them from becoming corrupt. Elections were held in August 2008.

Composition: Each Committee comprises twelve members plus three substitute members elected from residents in the Cell who do not hold any administrative position or sit on the Gacaca bench. The Abunzi is headed by a ’Bureau’ comprising President, Vice-President and Secretary. The Presidents and Vice-Presidents are elected by the Abunzi Committees and the Secretary of the Abunzi is also the Secretary of the Cell. The Abunzi are subject to the law of Rwanda which requires that all public institution comprise a minimum of 30% women.

Supervision: Abunzi are under the supervision of MINALOC through the District Office but funded by MINIJUST, also responsible for policy and planning.

The Abunzi system appears successfully to have reduced the number of cases going to the formal court system, and joining the backlog of cases. It is estimated that before the Abunzi system, 80% of civil cases pending before courts involved less than Frw1 million. Today approximately 70% of all civil cases fall under the competence of the Abunzi. A MINIJUST survey in 2005 collected data from 58 Abunzi which confirmed that 73% cases concluded by the Abunzi were not later referred to the formal court system. A 2006 survey conducted in Gisenyi showed similar trends.

For more information read Organic law N° 31/2006 of 14/08/2006 in Official Gazette of the Republic of Rwanda n° special of 16 August 2006 You can also consult www.amategeko.net