REPUBLIC OF RWANDANATIONAL REHABILITATION SERVICE

Dear visitor, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the website of the National Rehabilitation Service. Our Vision is To achieve a delinquency free Rwanda society. Delinquency is a global concern for developing, developed and emerging market states. Acts of delinquency retard productive capabilities of any country’s citizens especially the youth, due to social upheavals and increased cost of crime management average output per capita and general welfare. The government of Rwanda has undertaken tremendous efforts to prevent Rwandan youth from indulging in delinquent behaviours through sensitisation campaigns against the potential drivers (such as alcohol and drug abuse) as well as rehabilitating and reintegrating those already in the trap. The above efforts notwithstanding, there is need to develop a national policy framework within all interventions for preventions and response to cases of delinquency by whoever is involved can be administered in a deliberate, organised and sustainable manner.

This national policy against delinquency was developed through a consultative process, involving various stakeholders and beneficiaries. The rationale for the policy is to provide high-level political framework within which everyone involved in the fight against delinquency will work through elaborate priority policy actions. From the situational report, it can be noted that the problem of delinquency is multi-faceted, mutli-sectoral and multi-disciplinary in nature. On that note there is thus no single solution the problem, neither is there a single institution that can eradicate delinquency and its causes singlehandedly.

The fight against delinquency thus calls for simultaneous interventions from various stakeholders so as to realise meaningful and sustainable solutions to the issue in question. It is important to note that delinquency affects every one of us either directly or indirectly. We therefore call upon all the stakeholders to join hands together to eliminate any factors that expose our children to the risk of delinquency whilst utilising all the means and resources at our disposal to rehabilitate and reintegrate the unfortunate one’s already in the trap of delinquency.

It is important to join efforts to prevent our people especially Rwandans from exposure to the drivers of delinquency. Should we hesitate to eradicate the key drivers of delinquency and cushion our children from the negative influences, today’s delinquents may graduate to become hard core criminals of the future, skyrocketing the cost of; crime management, justice administration, rehabilitation and restoration of former delinquents. On a positive note, am optimistic that together as always, we shall deliver our society from major risk factors and maintain a stable, peaceful and productive population of especially our youth.

Despite the setbacks to address the problem of delinquency due to the complexity of the problem but also the lack of a national policy framework, some progress has been registered in prevention and response to the problem of delinquency. The government and its stakeholders have sustained education and sensitisation campaigns against the potential causes and consequences of indulging in delinquency, transit and rehabilitation centres like Iwawa center and mental health settings such as Ndera Neuropsychiatric Hospital and Huye Isange Rehabilitation Centre were established. The obligation to address this problem is split in more than one government institutions, however, there have not been streamlined procedures to enhance coordination and oversight of multiple stakeholder interventions and most of them are not comprehensive enough to address issues of delinquency in their entirety but fragmented interventions that address only a part of the problem. Therefore, this policy against delinquency will provide a national framework within which all interventions on prevention, response/rehabilitation and reintegration of delinquents will be administered. The proposed priority policy areas are selected cognizant of the ongoing efforts to address the problem of delinquency. The policy actions are either innovations to bridge key identified gaps or proposals for improvement to existing interventions summarised under four policy statements:

•Establish sustainable measures to prevent the incidence of delinquency,

•Define and implement appropriate measures to respond to cases of delinquency,

•Develop and implement a sustainable mechanism for reintegration and follow-up of former delinquents,

•Establish an integrated coordination and reporting framework. The fight against delinquency is a multi-faceted one involving efforts in the hands of multiple stakeholders.

The practical day-to-day implementation of the policy provisions shall be allocated to respective government institutions and dedicated agency in charge of National Rehabilitation.

The overall coordination will be undertaken by the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) while the steering and technical committees will provide the strategic guidance and oversight of implementation.

Delinquency free Country.