2001/799/CFSP: Council Common Position of 19 November 2001 on Rwanda
Date: 2001-11-19
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Rwanda, democracy, development aid, human rights, peacekeeping, the EU's international role

20.11.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

L 303/1

(Acts adopted pursuant to Title V of the Treaty on European Union)

COUNCIL COMMON POSITION

of 19 November 2001

on Rwanda

(2001/799/CFSP)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

— transition to democracy.

Having regard to the Treaty on European Union, and in par-
ticular Article 15 thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

By Common Position 2000/558/CFSP (1), the Council
defined the objectives and priorities of the European
Union vis-à-vis Rwanda.

By Joint Action 96/250/CFSP (2), the Council nominated
a Special Envoy for the African Great Lakes Region.

Article 8 of
the Partnership agreement between the
members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of
States of the one part, and the European Community
and its Member States, of the other part, signed in
Cotonou on 23 June 2000 (3), makes provision for the
establishment of a political dialogue between the Euro-
pean Union and all States signatory to the Agreement
with a view to achieving the goals of the Agreement, in
particular with regard to peace, security and the promo-
tion of a stable and democratic political environment.

(4)

In the light of developments in Rwanda since September
2000, Common Position 2000/558/CFSP should be
revised,

HAS DEFINED THIS COMMON POSITION:

Article 1

The objectives and priorities of the European Union in its
relations with Rwanda are to encourage, stimulate and support
the process of:

— recovery from genocide and the promotion of national

reconciliation;

— reconstruction and development;

— protection and promotion of human rights and funda-

mental freedoms;

(1) OJ L 236, 20.9.2000, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 87, 4.4.1996, p. 1.

Joint Action as last extended by Joint

Action 2000/347/CFSP (OJ L 122, 24.5.2000, p. 6).

(3) OJ L 317, 15.12.2000, p. 3.

these goals,

Insofar as regional instability may play a part in jeopardising
the European Union shall
the achievement of
encourage the Government of Rwanda to work, in particular
through its foreign policy, towards the achievement of regional
stability, as it does with all other parties to conflicts in the
region.

Article 2

The European Union affirms that progress in the areas referred
to in Article 1 is primarily the responsibility of the Govern-
ment of Rwanda. In order to support and encourage its efforts,
the European Union shall pursue a constructive and critical
political dialogue with the Government of Rwanda, including
through the offices of its Special Envoy to the African Great
Lakes Region, on the basis of the following provisions.

Article 3

With regard to the Government of Rwanda's regional foreign
and security policy, the European Union:

(a) urges the Government of Rwanda to keep the commit-
ments it made, inter alia in Lusaka (July 1999), Kampala
(April 2000) and Harare (December 2000) in favour of a
negotiated, peaceful and rapid settlement of the crisis in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to comply
with the relevant Security Council resolutions on the with-
drawal of foreign forces from the DRC, in particular Reso-
lutions 1304 (2000), 1341 (2001) and 1355 (2001);

(b) considers it most

important

the Rwandan troops
present in the DRC and the other warring parties should
abide by their obligations under international humanitarian
law and in connection with the protection of human rights;

that

(c) invites the Government of Rwanda to promote dialogue
and the systematic search for every peaceful solution with
the competent authorities of
the neighbouring states
involved in the crises in the DRC and Burundi;

(d) asks the Rwandan authorities, as it asks all parties to the
conflict, to take due account of the recommendations and
measures that the United Nations could adopt regarding the
illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

20.11.2001

Article 4

process, and remains prepared to support this process
by appropriate means as well as to continue to support
the move towards decentralisation initiated by the
Government in May 2000;

With regard to the situation within Rwanda, the efforts of the
European Union shall be based on the following principles:

(a) Concerning reconciliation and power-sharing, the European
Union shall encourage and support reconciliation among
all Rwandans within and outside Rwanda, through dialogue
between all groups which reject violence and genocide. It
points out that such dialogue must seek improved power-
sharing, the democratisation of the country, national recon-
struction and the protection of minorities. While having
regard to the Government's own responsibility in this
matter,
the European Union stresses the importance it
attaches to the independence of action and to the represen-
tativeness of
the Commission on Reconciliation and
National Unity. In that connection the European Union
considers it important that that Commission should have a
clearly defined programme of action that the European
Union could possibly support;

(b) concerning democratisation, the European Union:

— stresses

the importance of

respecting the political
balance laid down in Rwanda's basic law. It strongly
encourages the Government of Rwanda and the Legal
and Constitutional Commission to draw up a new
constitution, designed to create a new institutional
framework for
to guarantee effective
protection of the civil and political rights of Rwandans,
preservation of social cohesion and the safeguarding of
fundamental rights and freedoms;

the country,

— welcomes the creation of a National Electoral Commis-
sion, which organised local government elections in
March 2001;

— stresses its attachment to the independence that that
Commission should possess for the credibility of the
electoral processes and asks the authorities to guarantee
the real

independence of the Electoral Commission;

— urges the Government of Rwanda to establish a voting
mechanism that will ensure free and fair elections, guar-
anteeing rights for all Rwandans and for all sectors of
to express their
society (including political parties)
views, freedom of expression and the participation of
civil society in public debate and transparency with
regard to the whole electoral process and electoral legis-
lation;

— urges the Government of Rwanda to specify its time-
table for democratisation and to prepare actively to
hold the various electoral processes which have to take
place before the end of the transitional period in 2003;

(c) concerning the judicial system and the ‘Gacaca’ method of
administering justice (participatory justice based on tradi-
tional courts), the European Union:

— acknowledges the constructive role that the ‘Gacaca’
may play in resolving the consequences of the 1994
genocide,
in particular by speeding up the trial of
persons still in prison on suspicion of having taken part
in the genocide;

— stresses the need to implement the ‘Gacaca’ system as
soon as possible, while taking into account the funda-
mental rights of all concerned;

— in this respect encourages the Government of Rwanda
and the Supreme Court to ensure that ‘Gacaca’ justice is
administered in compliance with international human
rights standards;

— also encourages the ‘Gacaca’ courts to establish clem-
ency in general as a basic working principle and to
safeguard rights guaranteed by law both to those
accused, particularly as regards defence and appeals,
and to civil parties;

— further encourages the Government of Rwanda to make
certain that all measures relating to the proper adminis-
tration of ‘Gacaca’ justice are adopted, in particular with
regard to judicial procedure before such courts;

— will continue, with other partners of the Government of
Rwanda, to provide coordinated support to the ‘Gacaca’
system as implemented in accordance with the afore-
mentioned principles;

— encourages the Rwandan authorities to continue raising
awareness, among the population in general and geno-
cide survivors in particular, of the need to accept these
principles,
in order to deal simultaneously with the
problem of impunity and to reach a pragmatic solution
to the alarming problem of a large prison population
awaiting trial under precarious conditions of detention;

— urges the Government of Rwanda to pursue its efforts
to reduce the prison population (in particular vulner-
able groups such as the elderly, the sick and infirm,
those who are currently under age or who were so at
the time of their arrest) and its awareness campaign, in
particular by speeding up implementation of
its
decision, announced in 1998,
to release prisoners
against whom there are no files, or incomplete files;

— encourages the Government of Rwanda to continue to
extend the responsibilities, powers and means of the
elected local authorities so as to ensure the participation
of the local population in the political and development

— in this connection, welcomes the fact that preliminary,
examining ‘Gacaca’ have taken place and led to the
release of a number of prisoners against whom no case
could be brought;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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— supports

the work of

International Criminal
the
Tribunal in Arusha, and in particular renews its efforts
to ensure that all States surrender to the Tribunal all
those indicted by it for genocide and other serious
violations of international humanitarian law.
It shall
seek continued improvement of the Tribunal's adminis-
trative effectiveness;

— encourages the Government of Rwanda to comply fully
with its obligations under the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights and to observe other inter-
national safeguards concerning the death penalty and
actively encourages it to envisage the abolition of the
death penalty;

(d) concerning villagisation policy, the European Union:

— encourages the Government of Rwanda to continue the
it has already

critical reflection on the subject
initiated;

that

— notes with interest that the Government of Rwanda
its poverty

now places this issue in the context of
reduction strategy paper;

(e) concerning human rights, the European Union:

— is disappointed to note that the mandate of the Special
the UN Commission on Human

Representative of
Rights has not been renewed;

— nevertheless encourages the Government of Rwanda to
continue its cooperation with the Office of the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights;

— urges the Government of Rwanda to promote and take
concrete steps to protect the human rights of all Rwan-
dans, including through ensuring the independent and
effective functioning of
the National Human Rights
Commission and by facilitating the activities of human
rights organisations working in Rwanda;

— encourages the National Human Rights Commission to
continue working with the NGOs concerned, to step up
its activities and to speed up the implementation of its
programme of action, to which the Union is contri-
buting;

(f) concerning economic and social development and coopera-
tion, the European Union stresses the close links between
proper implementation of the poverty reduction strategy
paper and continued efforts by the Government of Rwanda
to achieve a return to peace and security in the region,
especially in the DRC, and to consolidate the process of
reconciliation and democratisation in Rwanda.

Noting the continued Rwandan presence in the DRC, moti-
vated from the Rwandan point of view by security
concerns, the European Union urges the Government of
Rwanda to make moves with a view to a peaceful settle-
ment of the conflict in the DRC, under the terms of the
Lusaka and Kampala Agreements and in accordance with
in particular
the relevant Security Council resolutions,

Resolution 1304, which would be likely, subject to detailed
examination by the competent bodies, to influence the
quality of
the cooperation links between the European
Union and Rwanda;

(g) concerning the reintegration into Rwandan society of geno-
cide survivors, demobilised soldiers and all other displaced
people,
the European Union encourages and supports
efforts by the Government of Rwanda to facilitate this
process, including through cooperation with relevant inter-
national organisations. In particular, the European Union is
ready to consider support for the demobilisation of the
Rwandan army and a Disarmament, Demobilisation, Repa-
triation and Reintegration plan for the negative forces
(ex–FAR and Interahamwe).

The European Union declares itself convinced that
the
question of disarming Rwandan armed groups driven back
to the DRC,
like that of disarming other armed groups,
cannot be settled by force but must be solved voluntarily
and using incentives in within the framework of political
undertakings by the countries concerned.
It accordingly
demands that all States in the region refrain from giving
military support
the
to these groups.
programmes devised by the Government of Rwanda for
reintegrating returning refugees and it urges the Govern-
ment of Rwanda to continue developing such programmes
with a view to admitting in complete security all rebels
who are not implicated in the genocide or in war crimes, in
particular as part of
the Disarmament, Demobilisation,
Repatriation and Reintegration operations provided for in
the Lusaka Agreement.

It welcomes

Article 5

The Council notes that the Commission intends to direct its
action towards achieving the objectives and priorities of this
Common Position, where appropriate by pertinent Community
measures.

Article 6

In implementing this Common Position, the European Union
will cooperate closely with the United Nations Organisation,
the Organisation of African Unity and other interested organ-
isations.

Article 7

The implementation of this Common Position will be moni-
tored regularly. It will be reviewed within 12 months.

Article 8

This Common Position shall replace Common Position 2000/
558/CFSP.

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Official Journal of the European Communities

20.11.2001

Article 9

This Common Position shall take effect on the day of its adoption.

This Common Position shall be published in the Official Journal.

Article 10

Done at Brussels, 19 November 2001.

For the Council

The President

L. MICHEL