Article 8: Access to Justice and Equal Protection before the Law 46. As per Article 15 of the Rwanda Constitution of 4th June 2003 revised in 2015, all human beings are equal before the law. They are entitled to equal protection of the law. The Government of Rwanda initiated Access to Justice Bureaus (AJB) – popularly known as Maisons d’accès à la Justice (MAJ) in French. These centres serve as a first point of orientation for the general public; sensitize population on their human rights; provide general legal aid services; assist prisoners and provide legal training to Abunzi among others. 47. Currently, each district has three MAJ personnel that particularly give legal aid to the population. As a result, this has relatively increased efficiency, performance, transparency of the judicial system, and improvement of public access to justice. Furthermore, among the staff in the Access to Justice Office (MAJ), one is a GBV and Child focal person which facilitate easy access to justice to women victims of gender based violence. 48. For the effectiveness and timely delivery of services to GBV victims, the Government of Rwanda as earlier mentioned introduced a Multisectoral and interdisciplinary Programme aimed at providing, comprehensive, timely and effective psycho-social, medical, police and legal services to adult and child victims of gender based violence and child abuse occurring in the family or in the community at large. 49. The country is now embarking on a full-fledged national scale up of the above programme in all district hospitals across the country. It strives to ensure effective prevention and response of victims of gender based violence. In addition, it is widely recognized that quality services, conviction of perpetrators and sustained community awareness-raising will help build the resilience of victims and their families including prevention of future violence and abuse. 50. Rwanda’s gender machinery has also made effort to increase women’s legal literacy, although the low levels remain a challenge. A manual for Citizens of Rwanda on land registration, transfer of land, and the Protection of rights to land was produced and disseminated to provide Page 81 of 105

Select target paragraph3