Supreme Court of Rwanda, Constitutional Court Chamber, 19 February 2002, Decision No. 009/11.02/02
Constitution of the Rwandan Republic
Preamble
(…) Reaffirming our adherence to the principles of human rights as defined in the Charter of the United Nations of 26 June 1945, the Convention of the United Nations on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 9 December 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 10 December 1948, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 7 March 1966, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 19 December 1966, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 19 December 1966, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1 May 1980, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of 27 June 1981 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1989; (…)
Article 190
Treaties or agreements which have been duly ratified or adopted shall, upon their publication, have higher authority than the laws, provided that each agreement or treaty is applied by the other party.
Rwanda
Reference to international law to strengthen a decision based on domestic law
Ratified treaty1
Decree establishing the statutes of the judiciary/ Institution of proceedings before the Constitutional Court on the ground that these statutes should be laid down by law/ Reference to international law to strengthen a decision based on domestic law
A law2 stipulated that the statutes of the personnel of the army, national police and judiciary would be laid down by decree. The President of the National Assembly had challenged the validity of that law before the Constitutional Court Chamber of the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court found that the fact that a decree established the statutes of the judiciary was incompatible with a state authorities law, which provided that the statutes of the judiciary were to be laid down by law.
In order to add force to its decision, the Court added that the decree contravened the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights:
“(…) that they [the articles appealed against] violate the principle of the independence of the judiciary, which leads to the establishment of special status comprising elements of individual and institutional independence, a principle enshrined in the same article of the basic law and Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.3
On these grounds, the Supreme Court of Rwanda ruled that the decree establishing the statutes of the judiciary contravened both the Constitution and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
1 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966.
2 Law on the General Regulations of the Rwandan Civil Service.
3 Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: “All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals. In the determination of any criminal charge against him, or of his rights and obligations in a suit at law, everyone shall be entitled to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law.”
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