Women’s Right to inheritance before the succession law in Rwanda

Abstract

In this article, the author demonstrates that contrary to the general belief, the law n° 22/99 of 12/11/1999 on inheritance (the first law on inheritance in Rwanda)¹ did not create a new inheritance right for women. It rather explicitly formalized a pre-existing right that since the 1956 decision of King Mutara Rudahigwa in the Rwubusisi case, guarantees children and widows to inherit irrespective of their gender. Women’s right to inheritance draws its genesis from the constitutional principle of equality and equal protection of the law and the constitutional recognition of the only custom practices that are not repugnant to written law, morality, and justice. It also originates from a number of international legal instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR)², Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)³, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPRs)⁴ , etc. These international instruments ratified by Rwanda are other important genuine sources of the women’s right to inheritance since, upon ratification, Rwanda had an international obligation to eradicate custom practices that discriminated against women. Even though the emphasis is put on the existence of women inheritance right long ago before the first law on succession in Rwanda, it is argued that the right to inheritance of the women whose succession opened before the first law on succession in Rwanda should be enforced within the respect of the droits acquis in orderto safeguard the social stability.