News:Land governance and food security – new knowledge agenda launched

19 Feb 2015 

The Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP) and the Netherlands Academy on Land Governance (LANDac) have developed a knowledge agenda on land governance and food security. Two activities will be taken up in the coming months: a scoping study on the linkages between land governance and food security, and the development of a capacity building trajectory on the same issues.

Scoping study
LANDac has started a scoping study to gain insight into the complex linkages between land governance and food security. By focusing on the Dutch floriculture sector in four East African countries, the study will provide insights into land governance – policies and regulations governing the access to and use of land – and how this relates to food security, both directly and indirectly. While research has been carried out to evaluate the socio-economic and environmental impacts of these investments, there is a significant knowledge gap in the land governance arrangements around the investments and how the investments impact local food security. The assignment is being executed by Evans Kirigia (an external regional consultant) and LANDac researchers.

Capacity building trajectory
LANDac will also start the development of a capacity building trajectory on land governance and food security. The main component of this activity will be the curriculum development of three country-specific trajectories for policy makers, development practitioners and private sector stakeholders in Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda. The aim of these four-day capacity building trajectories is to provide participants and their organizations with the knowledge to deal with issues of land governance and food security in their countries. Four issues central to this objective include an increased understanding of the complex linkages between land governance and food security; offering practical tools for improvement; linking up experts in countries; and scaling up of individual capacities to organizational and societal level. A related output of the capacity building trajectory is the updating and expansion of the existing LANDac country factsheets on land governance and food security (2012).

Follow-up
Both activities will be closely coordinated. Findings and outcomes of the scoping study will feed into the capacity building trajectory. The study and the trajectory will be linked to ongoing LANDac activities, including the annual two-week summer course Land Governance for Development, knowledge dissemination activities and the upcoming LANDac International Conference in July 2015.

If you are interested in receiving more information about the scoping study or the capacity building trajectory, please contact the F&BKP Office: vanessa.nigten@knowledge4food.net or the LANDac coordinator: g.betsema@uu.nl.

The Food & Business Knowledge Platform (F&BKP)

The F&BKP is one of the five Knowledge Platforms initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is an open and independent initiative where representatives from international networks and organizations of business, science, civil society and policy come together. The platform shares, critically reflects on, generates, deepens and improves (interdisciplinary) knowledge and feed practices and policies on food and nutrition security. They do so by identifying knowledge issues that are relevant now and in the future, by initiating action, learning and research, disseminating lessons learned and highlighting promising innovations that will contribute to local and global food and nutrition security. To start, the Platform has created a research agenda and prioritize knowledge themes, such as Food Wastage, Nutrition Security and Partnerships. Land governance has now been added to those themes.

Source: http://www.landgovernance.org/19022015-land-governance-and-food-security-new-knowledge-agenda-launched/

Publication:Secure and equitable land rights in the Post-2015 Agenda.

This technical briefing authored by a number of international organizations working on food security, natural resources management and poverty eradication and endorsed by many local civil society organizations around the world strongly encourages governments to keep the profile of land and natural resources high in the document on sustainable development goals to be endorsed in September 2015.

The Post-2015 Agenda must address the structural factors that undermine sustainable development. It is widely recognized that secure and equitable rights to land and natural resources are central to this effort.

Land rights empower people and provide a sense of dignity. They enhance food security and are fundamental to achieve the right to food and increase the productivity of small-scale food producers.
 They provide an incentive for ecosystem stewardship, and they promote inclusive and equitable societies whilst underpinning cultures and value systems. In most countries of the world, land rights make the difference for girls and women that need education, income and voice.

Secure and equitable land rights, particularly for those living in poverty and using and managing ecosystems, are an essential element of a Post-2015 Agenda that has the ambition to be people-centered and planet-sensitive.

To realize its transformative potential, the Post-2015 Agenda should ensure that all women, men, indigenous peoples and local communities have secure rights to land, property, and natural resources necessary for their livelihoods and well-being, and should devise a monitoring framework accordingly.

Source:
http://oxf.am/Z5pE 

News: Let's work together to deliver tangible results, Busingye tells judicial sector

All institutions within the judicial sector should work as a team to deliver better justice as it is crucial for socio-economic development of the country.

The call was made, Thursday, by the Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye, while closing a peer review retreat for the Justice, Reconciliation, Law and Order Sector in Rubavu District.

The two-day peer review symposium brought together government institutions, development partners, members of private sector as well as civil society organisations.
Busingye said justice can be achieved only when all concerned institutions and partners work as a team to discuss possible ways in which equitable justice can be offered as well as challenges faced.

“We all have the responsibility to ensure justice is fully granted, we have come a long way as the justice sector and this never happened accidently, it was thanks to our combined efforts,” he said.

Minister Busingye said Rwanda had committed to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council and urged justice sector to support it as this was the only way the country’s human rights record would be assessed.

Chief Justice Sam Rugege said while a lot had been achieved in terms of professionalising the sector, there was still need for more efforts to tackle challenges such as lack of advanced infrastructure, adapting to usage of ICT and increasing the number of qualified staff to deliver better services and avoid backlogs in the courts.
Achievements

Valens Munyabagisha, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Internal Security, said during this financial year, the rate at which court judgements have been appealed against more than halved from 28 per cent in 2011/2012 to 13.5 per cent.

The average time taken for commercial cases from filing to court decision also significantly reduced from 180 days in 2012/2013 to 58 days last financial year.

Development partners hailed justice sector and reiterated continuous support to ensure better justice is offered in the country.

“While we definitely note the tremendous progress made in the justice sector, we also notice that one of the challenges that still remain is to accelerate the processing of cases in the courts, we are very pleased to know that EDPRSII has identified improvements of access to justice as one of the key pillars,” said Lamin Manneh, the UN resident coordinator.

Source:
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2015-02-14/185976/

News: Corruption in judiciary on the decline - watchdog chief

Corruption incidences involving judiciary staff have been on a downward trend in recent times, according Transparency International (TI) -Rwanda.

TI executive secretary Appollinaire Mupiganyi said going by indices by various institutions, both local and international, there had been commendable improvement.

In last year’s least corrupt nations’ ranking, Rwanda was ranked 49th globally, 4th in the continent and least corrupt in the East African region.

Mupiganyi was yesterday speaking to The New Times at the closing of the Anti-Corruption Week organised by the Judiciary.

He said there was also improvement in the perceptions and corruption related experiences by members of the public in regards to corruption in the judiciary.

“According to latest reports, the likelihood that a member of the public will be asked for a bribe by staff of the judiciary went from 5 per cent in 2013 to 2 per cent in 2014. The prevalence of service seekers offering bribes to officials also went down from 2.3 per cent in 2013 to 1.8 per cent last year,” Mupiganyi said.

However, he added, the average sum received as bribes by corrupt judiciary officials had gone up in the previous year, from Rwf4o,763 in 2013 to Rwf44,708 in 2014, which could be attributed to the higher risk of being caught and consequences.

Room for improvement

Transparency International lauded the judiciary for efforts and commitment to tackle corruption, saying experts project that with the trend, graft incidents would reduce further.

The Anti-Corruption Week sought to expedite and complete all corruption cases brought before the courts, Spokesperson of the Judiciary, Emmanuel Itamwa, told this newspaper.

“They were a total of 60 in all courts across the country. We are hoping that they will be complete by the end of the week,” Itamwa said, adding that, generally, corruption cases had decreased over the years and that those implicated in the vice had been dealt with.

“Since 2005, at least 27 court staff, including registrars and judges, have been implicated in corruption-related cases. Appropriate measures were taken against them which involved terminating their employment and transferring their cases to the police for investigation and prosecution,” Itamwa said.

Source:  
http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2015-02-14/185977/

News:Fighting graft is everybody's duty - Chief Justice

RWANDANS are urged to collectively fight corruption in the judiciary to ensure justice for all and fast track social economic development.

The call was made by the Chief Justice, Sam Rugege, during the closing of the anti-corruption week organised by the judiciary in Musanze District.

“Fighting corruption shouldn’t be the work of the Ombudsman Office alone. Although we know that the Ombudsman Office is charged with fighting the vice, that office cannot succeed alone; neither can the government institutions. It is a war to be fought by all of us and safeguard the national economy for our common good,” Rugege said.

Rugege said that while corruption was no longer rampant in the judiciary, it was important to make the public and those seeking justice aware it undermines justice and should be eliminated.
“This is a good week for us to remind the public and those seeking justice that corruption should be fought in the judiciary,” he advised.

“We encourage the public to report whenever you are asked to give a bribe; or when your neighbour gives/receives a bribe. We also keep the information confidential and offer full protection to whistleblowers”.

Rugege urged the public to use a toll free line (3670) to give information related to corruption.
The anti-corruption week sought to expedite and complete all corruption related cases brought before the courts.

The Judiciary spokesperson, Emmanuel Itamwa, said 60 such cases were filed in courts across the country and are expected to be concluded by the end of the week.
“Since 2005, at least 27 court staff, including registrars and judges, were implicated in corruption-related cases.

Appropriate measures were taken against them which involved termination of employment and prosecution,” he said
.
Transparency International (TI) Rwanda has commended the judiciary for reducing corruption involving its members.

Source: 

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2015-02-15/186002/

News: Huye residents urged to settle disputes at community level

Residents of Karama Sector in Huye District have been told to try solving cases at community level instead of dragging wrangles to conventional courts of law, which consume a lot of money and time.
Addressing the residents last week, Africa Karake, the complaints investigations officer at the Office of the Ombudsman, said the other important advantage of communally solving disputes, is that it fosters cohesion in the community.

Karake was speaking as officials from the Office of the Ombudsman visited the sector to sensitise people against corruption and how better they can work locally to solve some of the issues affecting them.

The event also helped the officials receive complaints from the grassroots, where the majority of the cases brought up were land-related.

Other cases involved Gacaca cases that were adjudicated but property or reparations were not given to those entitled.

Jean Damascene Ruzindana won a property case before Gacaca court, but years later, he is yet to be compensated for the property lost during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

“There is a person living in a house whose doors were looted from my home during the Genocide, there are other people who destroyed my house but I only got Rwf75,000 of the Rwf1,602,000 the Gacaca court awarded me in damages,” Ruzindana said.

Karake said unlike in the past where a convict paid out of goodwill, the law today is the rule.
“The property of the person who owes compensation can be attached and auctioned in case they are not willing to pay,” Karake said.

This financial year, districts targeted for outreach activities by the Office of the Ombudsman include Gatsibo, Muhanga, Nyanza, Huye and Nyabihu.

Source:


http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2015-02-16/186025/

News: Meeting to discuss the Research done on the increase of court fees and its consequences

Today on 05th February 2015, AJPRODHO – JUJUKIRWA organized a meeting to discuss about the research carried out about the increase of court fees and probable consequences to justice service delivery. The guest of honor was the Minister of Justice and Attorney General Busingye Johnston.

Minister of Justice and Attorney General explained to the participants that increasing court fees was being done even before depending on the value of money.  “Increasing court fees does not depend on the purchasing power capacity of the consumers of justice services. If you want to buy a shirt to wear, the price will not decrease or increase depending on the fact that you have money or not” Minister Busingye explained. “What Rwandans need to know is that justice has a price” He added. The Government invests money in all court procedures to make sure that everything is in place.

Minister Busingye Johnston emphasized that a vulnerable citizens is supported by Government and some of such legal aid mechanisms for poor people is that they are given legal aid support without paying anything.  At each District there is a legal advisor who is supposed to represent poor people in courts.  There are also other Non Government Organizations that represent vulnerable people in courts. This was done to assist poor citizens so that they can get chance in their court proceedings.

Minister took the opportunity to request all Rwandans that before deciding to go to court they should first seek for advice from legal advisors located at each District and respect the advice thereof. “If you become stubborn and refuse to respect the advices given by legal advisors and you proceed to courts, we will represent you if you are poor, but when you loose the case and requested to pay, your vulnerability will not work.  You will be requested to pay and you will do it” Minister emphasized. 

Source:http://www.minijust.gov.rw/media-center/news/news-details/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=341&cHash=1cc351e4640a7d9196447bf0c83d2e6c

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