Locking Up the Poor: New Findings of Arbitrary Detention, Ill-Treatment in 'Transit Centers'

(Nairobi) - Rwandan authorities are rounding up poor people and arbitrarily detaining them in "transit centers" across the country, Human Rights Watch said today. The conditions in these centers are harsh and inhuman, and beatings are commonplace. New research indicates that the authorities have made few changes in a center in Gikondo, in the capital, Kigali, despite an earlier Human Rights Watch report on abuses there, and that similar degrading treatment prevails in other transit centers.

Human Rights Watch research in 2016 has found that scores of people, including homeless people, street vendors, street children, and other poor people, are being rounded up off the streets and detained in "transit centers" or "rehabilitation centers" for prolonged periods. Detainees have inadequate food, water, and health care; suffer frequent beatings; and rarely leave their filthy, overcrowded rooms. None of the former detainees Human Rights Watch interviewed were formally charged with any criminal offense and none saw a prosecutor, judge, or lawyer before or during their detention.

"The Rwandan government should close these unofficial detention centers and instead provide voluntary vocational training, help, and protection for vulnerable people," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Locking poor people up in harsh and degrading conditions and abusing them isn't going to end their poverty, and it violates both Rwandan and international law."

Following a September 2015 Human Rights Watch report on abuses at the Gikondo transit center, Human Rights Watch interviewed 43 former detainees from Gikondo and three transit centers in other parts of Rwanda: Muhanga (Muhanga district), Mbazi (Huye district), and Mudende (Rubavu district). Most of these interviews took place in 2016.

Contrary to the designations for these centers, none of the people interviewed had "transited" to other facilities after their most recent arrest and most had not been through any "rehabilitation," such as professional training or education, at the centers. "They correct us by beating us with sticks," one man told Human Rights Watch.

In November 2015, just over a month after Human Rights Watch's report, the Kigali City Council published a new directive regulating the Gikondo center, creating, for the first time, a specific legal framework. The directive contains provisions for improving conditions and granting certain rights, but leaves the door open for continuous arbitrary and lengthy detention.

Many aspects of the directive have not been implemented and the situation in Gikondo has not significantly improved since 2015, Human Rights Watch found. While some former detainees described minor adjustments to the infrastructure and the provision of some activities, the center continued to be overcrowded, with bad conditions. Arrests and detention were arbitrary and unlawful, and police officers beat detainees.

The new findings on the four centers Human Rights Watch researched - out of at least 28 across the country - were remarkably similar. Police or other groups responsible for security rounded up beggars, street vendors, or petty criminals, mostly in urban areas, and locked them up in the overcrowded, dirty transit centers.

Most detainees in these four centers were not allowed to leave their room, except to go to the toilet only twice a day. In most cases, food was no more than one cup of corn a day, and several former detainees complained about the lack of drinking water or the opportunity to wash.

Many said they had been beaten. In Gikondo and Muhanga, almost all those interviewed said they were beaten by police or by other detainees, often with sticks. Two adults detained in the center in Mbazi said they were beaten when they arrived.

"Every day, we have the 'right' to be beaten twice: in the morning and in the evening," a former detainee from the Mudende transit center told Human Rights Watch. "That is our 'right.'" The situation in Mudende, close to the town of Rubavu, in northwestern Rwanda, was particularly serious, with police officers, military, or other detainees beating detainees daily. As soon as detainees arrived, police officers hit them while forcing them to crawl on the ground to the room where they were to be detained.

Human Rights Watch received information about several people who died during or just after their detention in Mudende, allegedly as a result of a combination of injuries from beatings, poor conditions, and lack of medical care. Human Rights Watch shared information about one such case with the Justice Ministry, which expressed willingness to thoroughly investigate the allegations.

Human Rights Watch spoke to 13 children, ages 10 to 18, who had been detained in Muhanga and Mbazi, between June 2015 and May 2016. Most said they were street children. In Muhanga, children were detained in the same building as adults. In Mbazi, they were held in a separate building with slightly better conditions than the adults, but lacked proper hygiene and access to education. Several former detainees from Mudende and Gikondo said they had also seen children in these centers, ranging from infants held with their mothers to children up to about 18. Several former detainees said children were beaten in Gikondo and Muhanga.

"We are seriously concerned about the detention and ill-treatment of children in transit centers," Bekele said. "This is a negative development, as we were no longer receiving reports of detention of children in Gikondo between mid-2014 and mid-2015. The Rwandan government should order the immediate release of all children detained in transit centers."

Human Rights Watch wrote to the Rwandan justice minister, Johnston Busingye, in March, May, and June 2016, to share its findings and to comment on the Kigali City Council directive. In a written reply on July 5, the Ministry stated that it is continuing to inquire "to make sure that there are no human rights abuses in Rwanda's transit centres" and that it has "been assured that no ill-treatment incident has happened neither in Muhanga nor Huye or Mudende." The Ministry said it would follow up any specific incident reported.

The arbitrary arrest of poor people is part of an unofficial government practice to hide "undesirable" people from view, and contrasts with the Rwandan government's impressive efforts to reduce poverty, Human Rights Watch said. Street vendors, many of them women, have been among the main targets. On May 25, the mayor of Kigali called street vendors "an impediment to cleanliness" and told them to form cooperatives. Several other government officials promised measures to improve the situation after Theodosie Mahoro, a street vendor, was killed on May 7, in Nyabugogo bus station in Kigali - illustrating the precarious conditions in which they and other poor people operate. Security guards tried to confiscate Mahoro's goods and beat her severely, in front of many witnesses. She died almost immediately. The authorities arrested three security guards suspected of causing her death and promised to investigate.

In 2015 and 2016, the National Commission for Human Rights and members of the Rwandan Parliament confirmed some of Human Rights Watch's findings and endorsed a recommendation for an updated legal framework for all "transit centers." "New legislation could be a step in the right direction if it prevents arbitrary detention and guarantees detainees' rights to full due process and protection from ill-treatment," Bekele said. "But ultimately, the Rwandan government should close these centers and ensure that abuses are investigated and prosecuted."

The New Legal Framework for Gikondo

Following the September 2015 report, Justice Minister Johnston Busingye was quoted in the media denying the existence of any illegal detention center in the country and dismissing Human Rights Watch's findings. He said the government stood by its policy of "rehabilitation rather than incarceration" and stated that Gikondo "is a transit center and people are held there for a short period before longer term remedial or corrective measures are taken."

In November 2015, the Kigali City Council adopted a new directive on the Kigali Rehabilitation Transit Center - the official name for the Gikondo center - laying out the center's objectives and procedures. The directive addresses some of the issues Human Rights Watch had raised, in particular the lack of a legal framework, and lists the rights of those taken to the center, including the rights not to be subjected to corporal punishment, harassed, or discriminated against, access to hygiene and health care, and the right to visits.

Fundamental concerns remain, however. Rather than eliminating arbitrary detention, the directive seems to embed detention practices that could conflict with Rwanda's obligations under international human rights law. Under the directive, the center is to receive people whose behavior disturbs public order and security - a broad and vague notion that could be applied to categories of people for whom arrest and detention are not an appropriate or lawful response. The directive allows those who fail a "test" to be held for an unspecified longer period to "help readapt those the commission can't transfer elsewhere."

Human Rights Watch wrote to the Justice Minister in March 2016 requesting clarification about elements of the directive. The Justice Ministry replied on July 5 that it appreciated Human Rights Watch's analysis, but did not provide more detailed responses to the specific points about the directive.

No Fundamental Changes in Gikondo

Since the publication of the directive, Human Rights Watch has interviewed 12 former detainees - seven women and five men - who spent between four days and three months in Gikondo between October 2015 and April 2016. At least two were held for much longer than the period specified in the directive. None said they had seen members of a commission or undergone a test. As far as they could see, police were the only officials "screening" detainees and deciding who could leave. Some mentioned that walls had been repainted and toilet facilities renovated, but overall conditions remained very poor.

No Transit, No Rehabilitation

Human Rights Watch interviewed 31 people - 13 men, five women, and 13 children - detained in the Mudende, Mbazi, and Muhanga transit centers between September 2014 and May 2016, some for as long as six months. Most said they were arrested because they couldn't show identity documents or were street vendors or street children. Most had been arrested and detained in a transit center several times before; one said he had been arrested more than 20 times.

Despite the fact that the government calls these centers "transit centers" or "rehabilitation centers," all the people interviewed had been released after their most recent period of detention without being transferred anywhere, and most resumed their old activities as soon as they were released, as they had no alternative way to earn a living. Some detainees had been sent to a rehabilitation center on Iwawa, an island in Lake Kivu, but Human Rights Watch spoke to a man who spent nine months in Gikondo in 2015, was transferred to Iwawa, and was rearrested and taken back to Gikondo - for the sixth time - in April 2016.

Rehabilitation or reintegration efforts are very limited at the transit centers. The majority interviewed were not aware of or given the opportunity to participate in training or education activities. In Mbazi, Muhanga, and Mudende, no training was provided. A 25-year-old male street vendor detained in Gikondo said: "They say on the radio that the government is teaching professions in Kwa Kabuga [the unofficial name for Gikondo]. It's wrong, because no one in our room received any training when I was there. There are no jobs in Kwa Kabuga. We stay in the room the whole day."

Inhuman Conditions

Former detainees' descriptions of conditions in the four transit centers were remarkably similar. As many as several hundred people were crammed into one room; some said there was so little space that they had to sleep standing up. There was poor hygiene, vermin, and difficult and limited access to toilets, causing health problems. Most former detainees said they received a maximum of one cup of corn a day, and slept on the floor or under dirty blankets shared with others. In its annual report for 2014-2015, the National Commission for Human Rights documented that in seven transit centers, including Mudende, there was no clean drinking water.

A 33-year old female soft-drink vendor described the daily routine in Gikondo: "They wake us up at 3 a.m., then put us in line, count us and write it down. There is no water. They give us only half a cup of corn. We take a shower in the room. They give us a bucket for five people. We wash in front of everyone. We also defecate in front of everyone, as there are no doors. In the room, there are mice, lice and fleas. I have scars from scratching."

Most former detainees only left their room to go to the toilet, once or twice a day, in a group. In these conditions, health problems such as malaria, cholera, and diarrhea were common. Some had access to medication, but others received no health care. Some were released because they were very sick.

Absence of Due Process

Most detainees were arrested in public areas such as bus stations or markets, by police, military, private security guards, asinkeragutabara (an auxiliary service of the Rwanda Defense Force), or members of the District Administration Security Support Organ (DASSO). Several former detainees said that members of all these groups beat certain people during their arrest. Most were then taken to a police station or post, where some were held for several days, often in bad conditions, before being transported to a transit center in a police truck.

Three people arrested in Kigali were released from a police station after family members bribed the police or after a police officer intervened on their behalf. One street vendor described being released after three weeks in detention after someone paid a police officer 10,000 Rwandan francs (US$12). Other people who had lacked the means to bribe police officers confirmed the practice.

Only one former detainee interviewed said he had been questioned by a judicial police officer. None of those interviewed had been taken before a prosecutor or a judge, or officially charged with an offense, before or during their detention. Although the right to legal assistance is enshrined in Rwandan and international law, none of those interviewed saw a lawyer before or during their detention. Some families did not know where detainees were held; the National Commission for Human Rights itself observed that "some families who have their [family members] in transit centers were not informed that they were imprisoned there."

Beatings

All former Mudende detainees interviewed said they had been beaten by the police who administered the center and by other detainees chosen by the police to maintain order inside the center. The beatings by police started as soon as they arrived. A former detainee said: "After getting out of the vehicle, they ordered us to lie down on our belly on the ground and walk with our hands one after the other, like a snake. When we arrived close to the door, they beat me with a padlock. They beat me all over."

Most former Gikondo or Muhanga detainees had also been beaten there by police or by other detainees. A 40-year-old woman arrested and taken to Gikondo in December said: "When we arrived at Gikondo, they made us sit in line. First they beat the street children. Then they beat the women on their feet, saying: 'Why do you continue to sell in the streets?' The men were lying on their belly and were beaten by the police on their buttocks. Me too, I was beaten on my shoulders." She said she still felt pain from the beatings several months later.

Inside the four detention centers, detainees chosen by the police, and known as "counselors," beat those who disturbed the order or who didn't have money to give them. In Mudende, the "counselor" beat detainees with a knotted rope. A 30-year woman said of them: "They are very mean, but they are prisoners like us. If we have nothing on us, we are terribly beaten. I was not beaten myself, as I had 500 Rwandan francs [approximately US$0.60] that I gave immediately."

Most of the children interviewed who had been in Muhanga told Human Rights Watch that they were beaten by police or by other detainees. Some former detainees from Gikondo also said they saw children being beaten. Most children had been arrested because they were street children.

Arbitrary Releases

Releases were as arbitrary as the arrests. There were no clear criteria for deciding that someone could leave the center. A young man who was detained in Gikondo six times said: "The 'screening' is a selection of those that can go and those who stay. It is the commander who does it. The afande [commander] says: 'Street vendors, you go!' or 'Street children, you go!' The others are policemen in uniform, but the commander decides." Several detainees were released because they were seriously ill, or after a family member bribed one of the police officers in charge of the center.

Public Debate

In its 2014-2015 annual report, the National Commission for Human Rights described its visits to 28 transit centers across Rwanda. It confirmed several problems, but concluded that human rights were respected. Despite being nominally independent, the commission rarely expresses strong or fundamental criticism of the Rwandan government's human rights record. In March 2016, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the selection of the members of the commission and its perceived lack of independence.

After a parliamentary visit to 11 transit centers, members of parliament were quoted in the media in March 2016 calling the transit centers "prisons" and speaking out against prolonged detention, including of minors. One member of parliament declared in a parliamentary debate: "It isn't even a transit center! Those who are held in a transit center normally have a destination. But we have become aware that those who are held in these centers spent as long as two months there, and then returned home. They don't receive any training. In fact, we have realized that it is a prison conceived in another way."

After its March 2016 review of Rwanda's human rights situation, the UN Human Rights Committee expressed concern about the fact that "homeless people and beggars continue to be detained without charge and without judicial oversight in Gikondo Rehabilitation Transit Centre, allegedly in extremely harsh conditions." It recommended ending "involuntary detention of homeless people, beggars and other members of vulnerable groups in transit or rehabilitation centres" and abolishing the crime of vagrancy. After Rwanda's Universal Periodic Review in November 2015, Rwanda accepted a recommendation by the United Kingdom to implement legislation on transit centers, but did not accept a suggestion by Ghana to "investigate allegations of arbitrary arrests and maltreatment of detained persons at the Gikondo Transit Centre, and bring the perpetrators to justice."

Despite the Rwandan justice minister's public promises to investigate and act on information related to possible human rights abuses, and despite multiple requests for information, Human Rights Watch is not aware of any investigation, prosecution, or other actions by the Rwandan authorities in relation to abuses in transit centers.