{"id":9465,"date":"2021-05-14T12:31:52","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T16:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/?p=9465"},"modified":"2023-09-29T19:06:56","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T23:06:56","slug":"decolonization-of-the-legal-code-the-end-of-colonial-laws-in-rwanda-and-a-model-for-other-post-colonial-societies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/2021\/05\/decolonization-of-the-legal-code-the-end-of-colonial-laws-in-rwanda-and-a-model-for-other-post-colonial-societies\/","title":{"rendered":"Decolonization of the Legal Code: The End of Colonial Laws in Rwanda and a Model for Other Post-colonial Societies"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Agnes Binagwaho and Richard Freeman[*]<\/strong><\/a><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Click here for PDF]<\/a><\/p>\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Communities around the world are organizing to confront structural violence and its enduring consequences. As the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by a deadly respiratory virus, disproportionately affects historically oppressed communities, protestors rally around cries of \u201cI can\u2019t breathe,\u201d the dying words of black men and women killed by police.[1]<\/strong><\/a> In Africa and in Europe, the global movement has found expression in the struggle against unresolved injustices of colonial and post-colonial violence. Activists worldwide have converged on a common tactic, as they topple statues and monuments that honor racist historical figures. Symbolic in nature, the powerful action carries real import: it transforms the space, norms, and discourse within which we accept to live together.<\/p>\n

For post-colonial societies, this article demonstrates Rwanda\u2019s experience in extending the movement beyond the realm of symbolism and into substantive policy reform. The country has taken the unprecedented step of systematically eradicating the legal roots of historic inequality and structural violence at the very heart of post-colonial society. Rather than toppling statues, Rwanda toppled its colonial statutes.<\/p>\n

In a previous article published in this Journal, we advocated for Rwanda to initiate a public debate and to take bold action to abolish the barriers that colonial laws still presented to health, human rights, and development.[2]<\/strong><\/a> Staying true to its trailblazer reputation, Rwanda acted swiftly. As it commemorated 25 years since the end of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi\u2014the culmination of European colonial divisionism\u2014Rwanda laid down a new milestone in the liberation of its legal institutions.<\/p>\n

Namely, on July 15, 2019, the Parliament historically proclaimed an end to all colonial laws:<\/p>\n

All legal instruments, brought into force before the date of independence of Rwanda, are repealed.[3]<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That is a victory for social justice. As discussed in our previous article, the persistence of colonial laws, originally designed to oppress, continued to exert harm. These legal vestiges can jeopardize the rule of law, causing delays in policy implementation and unjust outcomes.[4]<\/strong><\/a> In health policy, the consequences can mean the difference between life and death.[5]<\/strong><\/a> Especially today, at a time of a global pandemic, when every moment counts to control the spread of a highly lethal infectious disease, there is no room for interference from the ghosts of colonial oppressors.<\/p>\n

No doubt, Parliament\u2019s bold stroke will surface some questions about how to interpret certain laws, or how to adjudicate in the absence of certain now-abolished statutory rules. But the country\u2019s modern legal institutions are resilient; they have the tools and capability to resolve those questions. These challenges are minor when compared to the malignancy that has finally been excised from the code. As Rwanda moves into the future on a more just and dignified legal foundation, it now has an opportunity to inspire other post-colonial countries in Africa and beyond to consider doing the same.<\/p>\n

I. A World Ready To Dismantle Colonialism: From Statues To Statutes<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Globally, societies have mobilized to reject historic instruments of oppression. What began as nationwide protests against institutionalized racism in America, especially its manifestation in police brutality against black civilians, has ignited a wave of actions across the world. While Americans tear down statues of Confederate generals who fought for the institution of slavery in the country\u2019s south, elsewhere in the world protestors have set their sights on \u201cstatues glorifying men made famous or rich by the slave trade and colonialism.\u201d[6]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> In Europe and Africa, the movement has revived an overdue reckoning with the unfinished business of decolonization. Rwanda\u2019s reform coincides with this global context of introspection, activism, and change.<\/p>\n

Among these international reactions, a public debate has emerged around Belgium\u2019s violent colonial legacy\u2014the same evil past that continues to haunt communities in both Europe and Africa, including Rwanda. Across Belgium there has been \u201ca wave of support for the removal of all monuments built to honour [King Leopold II,] the former king, who brutalised Congolese people.\u201d[7]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> In a particularly powerful instance, a fourteen year old boy of Congolese descent launched a viral petition demanding the City of Brussels remove all statues of Leopold II.[8]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> As the sixtieth anniversary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo\u2019s independence approached last year, monuments to Belgian colonialism were removed in Antwerp, Ghent, and Ixelles.[9]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> Even as far away as Western Australia, on July 3, 2020, the local government changed the official name of the King Leopold Ranges to the aboriginal name, Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges, finally rejecting the tyrant\u2019s \u201cgrievous atrocities, brutal oppression and the enslavement of African people.\u201d[10]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> The response is not unique to the Belgian colonial legacy: other European communities have also toppled monuments to their own slave traders and colonialists too.[11]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

To its credit, the Belgian government has also taken a few steps. It invited experts from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (\u201cU.N. Human Rights\u201d) to visit Belgium for an independent assessment of concerns about human rights and racism.[12]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> In 2019, their report concluded that the \u201cpublic discourse does not reflect a nuanced understanding of how institutions<\/em> may drive systemic exclusion\u201d and inequity.[13]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> The experts \u201cnote[d] with concern the public monuments and memorials that are dedicated to King Leopold II and Force Publique officers.\u201d But, looking deeper, they also advised \u201cfinally confront[ing] and acknowledg[ing] King Leopold II\u2019s and Belgium\u2019s role in colonization and its long-term impact on Belgium and Africa.\u201d[14]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> As the expert report recognized, removing statues is important, but true healing must reach institutional reforms.<\/p>\n

A year later, on July 17, 2020, Belgium\u2019s Chamber of Representatives responded: it established a special commission to examine King Leopold and the Belgian state\u2019s colonial past in Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi, including the role of the Catholic church and other non-state actors.[15]<\/strong><\/a> The commission will not only assess \u201csymbolic actions\u201d to promote reconciliation \u2013 such as \u201cthe withdrawal .\u00a0.\u00a0. of statues honoring or having honored the protagonists of colonization\u201d[16]<\/strong><\/a>\u2014but it is also charged to advise Parliament on substantive policy options.[17]<\/strong><\/a> This is a positive step, but to result in change, the commission must be well constituted, it must produce constructive guidance, and the government must finance and implement appropriate recommendations. Otherwise, it will risk falling short of the urgent mandate to reform the institutional legacy of colonialism.<\/p>\n

In Africa, the Black Lives Matter movement has also found expression in the anticolonialism struggle, in former colonies of all stripes. Ugandan feminist, Rosebell Kagumire, describes how \u201c[p]rotests ignited by Black Lives Matter action have gone beyond solidarity to put a spotlight on the work that remains unfinished at home.\u201d[18]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> In some instances, such as the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria, the call for social justice has demanded an end to police brutality in African societies too. But as in other parts of the world, many actions have targeted symbolism and discourse.<\/p>\n

For example, Kagumire cites an initiative to rename Ugandan streets bearing the names of colonizers, which attracted little attention in 2017 but which now is gaining traction,[19]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> and petitioners seeking to remove colonial monuments in Cabo Verde.[20]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> Indeed, long before the Black Lives Matter movement arrived, African activists were calling for the removal of colonial monuments. Students at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, after lengthy protest, achieved the removal of the school\u2019s iconic statue of Cecil Rhodes in 2015.[21]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a> Further north, a Cameroonian activist, Andr\u00e9 Blaise Essama, told the press, \u201cI have decapitated Leclerc\u2019s head seven times and toppled the statue at least 20 times.\u201d[22]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

However, as scholars of contested monuments note, in the \u201clong-term, the question remains: what does the removal or erasure of a statue or monument accomplish? .\u00a0.\u00a0. Without structural changes in justice, policing, social, and educational systems, removal will be a Pyrrhic victory, a purely symbolic act.\u201d[23]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

As post-colonial societies explore avenues for channeling the movement into something deeper, targeting structural change, they may take interest in Rwanda\u2019s recent legal reform. Few others have addressed Belgian colonialism so profoundly. To be sure, law is not the only source that perpetuates colonial injury: some of the structural damage is also embedded in persistent economic inequality and harmful social norms. But the laws and institutions designed by colonial regimes remain in place in many countries. Those legal malignancies should also be excised.<\/p>\n

This past year, Rwanda offered the world an example of a bold step. With a single wholesale repeal, the country once colonized by Germany and Belgium abolished all <\/em>colonial laws that remained in force.<\/p>\n

II. Rwanda\u2019s Path to Legal Emancipation and Its Achievements<\/strong><\/h1>\n

A. The Context: Persistent Legal Barriers to Health, Human Rights, and Development<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

In our article, The Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, we made a case for repealing all colonial laws in Rwanda.[24]<\/strong><\/a> Drawing upon first-hand experience, we described a number of ways in which these entrenched tools of the former oppressor perpetrate injustices against all citizens. Specifically, they perpetuate inequality through both the discriminatory policies that such laws were crafted to promote and their real discriminatory effects in practice.[25]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

We pointed out colonial laws\u2019 wide-ranging deleterious effects on health, including a history of problematizing the public health response in outbreaks.[26]<\/strong><\/a> This is not a surprise\u2014laws governing health were no exception to colonialism\u2019s perverse motives and prioritized a deliberate policy to subjugate, divide, and control African societies over their actual health and well-being. As described by Anne Cornet, a historian of Belgian colonialism, \u201cthe activities that were rolled out for a real health objective at the same time converged toward the colonial system\u2019s control, as a whole (State, missions, private sector), over the local populations.\u201d[27]<\/strong><\/a> They reflected a racist occidental vision of African society, \u201ca world where whites and blacks lived in parallel, but not together, a world where African society was essentially perceived as divided into social and ethnic groups.\u201d[28]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Colonial health laws continued to interfere in governance through recent years. For example, we described how they delayed the Ministry of Health\u2019s ability to implement international recommendations to address malnutrition, which in turn perpetuated harm to the health of people living in Rwanda.[29]<\/strong><\/a> We also detailed how they impaired the rule of law and separation of powers in Rwanda\u2019s government by inviting officials to selectively enforce some colonial provisions but not others, damaging the health of the country\u2019s modern institutions.[30]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

We described the extraordinarily onerous task of locating antiquated laws, which would be impossible for some.[31]<\/strong><\/a> Especially in a post-conflict setting, obscure, hard-to-find laws are only accessible to people with the greatest resources, further reducing access to justice for the poor.[32]<\/strong><\/a> And we also highlighted the broader normative problem of building a more just system on a legal foundation that is discriminatory, incomplete and scattered.[33]<\/strong><\/a> Perhaps most importantly,<\/p>\n

[a]s a matter of social justice, human rights, and due process, no<\/em> Rwandan should ever<\/em> be subjected to a decree of a colonial governor or even wonder if she might be. Even if a court correctly refuses to enforce a colonial law, the damage is already done: no citizen \u2026 should be subjected to the indignity of standing before a judge to defend herself against a colonizer\u2019s decree, brought into the court by a creative opponent.[34]<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In addition to the public policy concerns, we addressed legal problems presented by these colonial vestiges. \u201cAcross the board, every colonial law\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0is in conflict with certain provisions of Rwanda\u2019s Constitution,\u201d including problems relating to the country\u2019s independent sovereignty; unconstitutional objectives promoted by colonial laws; discriminatory effects of keeping such laws on the books; the unconstitutional effect on the rule of law; and procedural defects inherent to laws not promulgated in accordance with the mechanisms permitted by the Constitution.[35]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Contemporaneously, the Chief Justice of Rwanda at that time, Professor Sam Rugege\u2014a supporter of law reform in the country\u2014also lent his voice to the cause. In his speech to open the new judicial year on October 10, 2017, he urged the government to consider the issue:<\/p>\n

It is not normal that after more than fifty years of independence, we still have on our statute books, laws promulgated by the King of Belgium and the Governor of Rwanda-Urundi which are obviously not in sync with the times and which sometimes are used capriciously in our courts. Competent institutions should examine whether it is not high time that Rwanda discarded these laws.[36]<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To resolve this, we proposed several options to remove colonial statutes.[37]<\/strong><\/a> The country could wait for a revised code of Rwandan law to be completed, though lengthy delays were certain with that approach.[38]<\/strong><\/a> Alternatively, a task force could be created to review only the obsolete health laws, singled out as uniquely problematic, but we noted the costs and inefficiencies associated with that incomplete solution. We suggested that the most ambitious and effective approach would be a wholesale repeal of all colonial laws\u2014a view supported by the Chief Justice as well.[39]<\/strong><\/a> Under that scenario, we noted the option to enumerate specific exceptions that might be saved. Finally, if legislative efforts fail, we identified grounds on which the Supreme Court could invalidate all colonial laws at once.<\/p>\n

Rwanda went for the most ambitious option. In fact, the government did not even advocate for any enumerated savings.[40]<\/strong><\/a> If the law was imposed by a colonizer, it was out \u2013 no exceptions.<\/p>\n

B. The Rwanda Law Reform Commission Takes on the Fight Against Colonialism<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Rwanda Law Reform Commission (\u201cRLRC\u201d or the \u201cCommission\u201d) coordinated the effort to topple colonial laws. The Chairman of the Commission at that time was Aimable Havugiyaremye. A legal academic who frequently lectures at the University of Rwanda, Havugiyaremye once led the country\u2019s training programs for legal practitioners as the rector of the Institute of Legal Practice and Development. But as a former investigator of the Gendarmerie Nationale<\/em>, who today serves as the country\u2019s Prosecutor General, he would prove to be a formidable protagonist for prosecuting the case against the laws of Rwanda\u2019s former oppressors.[41]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Havugiyaremye dispatched a team led by Alain Songa, Head of the Department of Research and Reform, to dig up all of the colonial laws they could possibly find. Well before the pandemic, the team donned face masks to descend into the dusty chambers of the Ministry of Justice\u2019s basement. They emerged from the excavation having unearthed over 1,000 pre-independence laws.[42]<\/strong><\/a> Indeed, the Commission confirmed that \u201csome [were] still being used in court, like the law of 1888 related to contracts and conventions.\u201d[43]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the Commission\u2019s extensive efforts, the lawyers could not verify that there were no colonial laws they may have missed; more could be lurking in other basements, in a Belgian archive, or even in the Stanford Law Library\u2019s depository in the United States.[44]<\/strong><\/a> \u201cIt was difficult,\u201d Havugiyaremye recalls, \u201cyou could find a list of the title of the laws, but .\u00a0.\u00a0. could not find the content.\u201d[45]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

This became an important consideration in Havugiyaremye\u2019s decision to prepare a wholesale repeal of all pre-independence laws, rather than recommending that Parliament only repeal the list of laws that were retrieved.[46]<\/strong><\/a>Havugiyaremye later recounted, \u201cthe reason we had to repeal all colonial laws is that even though we were able to identify [over a thousand] colonial laws, the list is not exhaustive.\u201d[47]<\/strong><\/a> For example, \u201cbecause the colonial powers subjected Rwanda to all criminal laws in Congo Belge<\/em>, there could still be more laws that one could invoke and say [they are] applicable in Rwanda, even though we are not even aware of [them].\u201d[48]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Nevertheless, drafting the repealing law without saving any exceptions was a daring decision, especially as some stakeholders felt that colonial statutes were still of value. Legal advisors for the Ministry of Health, for example, were hesitant and had informed RLRC that they would like to retain several colonial-era laws.[49]<\/strong><\/a> The Commission decided not to endorse such requests, preferring to encourage ministries to propose new or revised laws wherever colonial rules were in use.[50]<\/strong><\/a> Asked why RLRC recommended a categorical approach, leaving no exceptions behind, Havugiyaremye shared that a primary motive was because \u201cRwandans were not the ones to pass those laws, so we don\u2019t even know what was the intention behind [them].\u201d[51]<\/strong><\/a> Further, he explained, \u201cwe have to find our own solutions to our own problems, instead of relying on others\u2019 thinking about how we should solve our problems.\u201d[52]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the matters that were provided for by colonial laws are now provided for by recent new laws,\u201d the Law Reform Commission determined; therefore, any \u201cgaps in terms of written laws are really very few.\u201d[53]<\/strong><\/a> In any event, as we had argued before and as Havugiyaremye agreed, if statutory \u201cgaps\u201d appear, the system has an ability to handle them: \u201cwe do have a legal basis for filling the gaps\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0when something is not provided for by written laws. The basis for that is the provision in the civil code.\u201d[54]<\/strong><\/a> Indeed, where a matter is not addressed in a parliamentary statute, Rwandan procedure allows judges to decide cases based on \u201cthe rule they would have enacted, had they to do so, guided by judicial precedents, customs and usages, general principles of law and written legal opinions.\u201d[55]<\/strong><\/a> In an interview with The New Times<\/em>, Havugiyaremye described the Commission\u2019s view that \u201cour legal system now has sufficient legal instruments to regulate both civil and criminal matters,\u201d citing judges\u2019 ability to employ \u201clogic, legal precedents, and common sense\u201d to interpret the law where a statute may be silent.[56]<\/strong><\/a> In the event that such solutions would be needed, the Commission even saw a potential benefit for the further development of Rwanda\u2019s hybrid legal system:<\/p>\n

In the civil law system, it\u2019s as though nothing can be done if there isn\u2019t a written law behind it. Now judges will have to develop their legal thinking instead of only applying the law that is written\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0Laws should be considered as tools that can help you to solve problems or to render justice, but they aren\u2019t the only ones. There is [also] equity, in terms of what is just for society.[57]<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once the Commission prepared the draft law, it was presented to the President\u2019s cabinet, which approved its submission to Parliament. The public debate began.<\/p>\n

C. The End of Colonial Laws<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the cabinet\u2019s endorsement, local media reported: \u201c\u200b\u200bIt is here that the interesting debates will occur, as interested parties battle for complete removal of some laws. In other countries, such a process to repeal colonial laws has seen heated debates especially on laws of free expression and assembly, and women rights.\u201d[58]<\/strong><\/a> A local outlet, The Chronicles<\/em>, laid out the stakes: \u201cRwanda will either be still in bondage\u201d or freed from the \u201clegacy of the \u2018colonialists\u2019\u2014often accused of setting in place the infrastructure that led to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.\u201d[59]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The Rwanda Law Reform Commission found that feedback from lawyers, in general, was less disturbed by the law\u2019s colonial legacy. \u201c[Lawyers] were used to citing even entire books of law,\u201d without questioning the integrity of what lay within, Havugiyaremye says, describing how some attorneys broadly cite \u201c\u2018civil law book one,\u2019 but when you look at the actual law itself, you realize it was a [colonial] royal decree. Which means we were somehow blind.\u201d[60]<\/strong><\/a> He suggests that full emancipation also requires a transformation in legal education so that lawyers are taught to think more critically about legal institutions, both those they inherit and those they themselves develop: \u201cThe way we were taught laws, lawyers kept a colonial mentality.\u201d[61]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the Commission found that \u201cthe [general] population\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0couldn\u2019t even believe that we\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0still use the colonial laws,\u201d and most \u201ccomments and responses [expressed] surprise that we had not already repealed these laws.\u201d[62]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In an editorial published in The New Times<\/em>, the Rwandan newspaper warned, \u201c[from] a legal point of view, the country could be sitting on a ticking time bomb. An example is the zoning law that reserved some neighbourhoods for whites only. Therefore, there is legal ground to evict some of the residents of upper Kiyovu.\u201d[63]<\/strong><\/a> The press highlighted \u201c[a]nother ridiculous law\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0enacted in 1930 [that] forbade bars from selling alcoholic drinks on credit,\u201d which if enforced, could leave the proprietor with \u201cno legal recourse in case someone defaulted.\u201d[64]<\/strong><\/a> The paper cautioned that some colonial laws may \u201cseem harmless, but it is prudent not to leave any loose ends\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0repealing all those colonial laws and orders is long overdue.\u201d [65]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The media also cited a commonly discussed example: the Catholic Church\u2019s \u201cmassive land grab,\u201d[66]<\/strong><\/a> which made it \u201cthe biggest landowner in Rwanda\u201d under a 1943 Belgian law transferring large tracts of land to its control.[67]<\/strong><\/a>Notwithstanding this expropriation, the Rwanda Law Reform Commission clarified that the Church is not obliged to surrender its property in Rwanda, \u201can acquired right under the country\u2019s laws.\u201d But RLRC identified the example to illustrate that colonial laws were not enacted with Rwandans\u2019 interests in mind: \u201c[they] were enacted in favour of some colonialists themselves or missionaries.\u201d[68]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The proposed repeal came before the parliamentary standing committee on political affairs and gender in the Chamber of Deputies, the first step before being considered by the full Chamber. There, the State Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, who at that time was Evode Uwizeyimana, exclaimed: \u201cThese are not laws that we should be proud of keeping.\u201d[69]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, one Belgian legal advisor to the former genocidal regime (which had retained the colonial laws), responded by writing to a Rwandan newspaper to dispute the repeal. He even encouraged keeping some of the colonial laws. He admonished that \u201cit would be wise to review them one by one\u201d and better to wait to \u201creplace them by new legislation if and where necessary.\u201d[70]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

That approach had already been considered and rejected by the Commission. RLRC wanted to avoid what had happened in India.[71]<\/strong><\/a> In 2014, the Indian government renewed a stalled process to identify and review colonial laws one-by-one before repealing them. The process led to delays over many years.[72]<\/strong><\/a> India\u2019s inefficient and torpid approach attracted a great deal of public criticism, including in the international press, which drew attention to colonial laws that were still being enforced in Indian courts during the multi-year, protracted reform process.[73]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On July 15, 2019, the final debate took place in the Lower House of Parliament. The chairperson of the Political and Gender Equality Committee (the \u201cCommittee\u201d), Emma Furaha Rubagumya, advocated on behalf of the Committee to lead the attack against \u201clegal colonialism.\u201d[74]<\/strong><\/a> Rubagumya, a first-term Member of Parliament, was born in Tanzania in 1967, after her parents had fled ethnic violence in Rwanda.[75]<\/strong><\/a> Safeguarding her education, her family reportedly sent her to school over her grandfather\u2019s conservative objections.[76]<\/strong><\/a> Now recognized as part of a generation of women lawmakers fighting for equity and progress,[77]<\/strong><\/a> Rubagumya took aim at the colonizer. She argued that so long as these laws remain on the books, Rwandans \u201care in an endless colonialism.\u201d[78]<\/strong><\/a> She then pointed to examples of other jurisdictions that had already enacted a wholesale repeal of all pre-independence laws.[79]<\/strong><\/a> \u201c[T]he best option,\u201d she argued, was that \u201cused .\u00a0.\u00a0. in other countries such as the United States of America, [where] Virginia .\u00a0.\u00a0. and New Jersey .\u00a0.\u00a0. repealed all the laws enacted by the British using one law.\u201d[80]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Rubagumya advanced a broadside attack against the entire system of colonial laws, arguing that such \u201claws are inconsistent with the principles set out in the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda as some of those laws are found to be based on discrimination.\u201d[81]<\/strong><\/a> She acknowledged the impracticality of enforcement of some colonial laws that would now be deemed unconstitutional.[82]<\/strong><\/a> Rubagumya also maintained that the Constitution leaves no room for \u201claws enacted for the territory called Rwanda-Urundi or Belgian Congo\u201d and \u201cno sound justification\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0for application in a fully independent nation.\u201d[83]<\/strong><\/a> She conveyed that the Rwanda Bar Association had confirmed \u201cthat these laws are outdated and do not address issues faced by Rwandan citizens.\u201d[84]<\/strong><\/a> The Committee found additional reassurance from the Private Sector Federation, which \u201cindicated to [the Committee] that, as private operators, they do not see any problem in repealing [the colonial] laws.\u201d[85]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

To assuage doubts about potential gaps in the statutory law, the Committee pointed to the civil procedure provisions that \u201cgrant[] the judge the power to adjudicate according to the rules that he\/she would establish if he\/she had to act as a legislator for matters not provided for by the law,\u201d as a means for resolving issues \u201cnot\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0provided for by the laws enacted after\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0Independence.\u201d[86]<\/strong><\/a> The Committee also pointed to the tools described by Havugiyaremye to manage any potential gaps, such as \u201cthe possibility to rely on case law (precedents), customs, general principles of law and doctrine\u201d to interpret statutes or to reach equitable solutions.[87]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

As the parliamentary debate unfolded, it primarily centered around the possible unintended effects that a wholesale repeal might have on the legal system. Parliamentarians considered whether there could be a destabilizing effect on the larger statutory regime in which colonial laws were integrated, on settled jurisprudence, or even on matters of international law. Those arguments were ultimately defeated by counterarguments that either refuted the risk of such hypothetical, unintended consequences or that asserted normative and deontological principles that the dignity of a sovereign society outweigh any possible negative effects of the repeal.[88]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Specifically, the debate ultimately focused on four concerns. First, one Member of Parliament questioned repealing all colonial laws when the inventory of retrieved laws was not exhaustive. He suggested additional laws \u201c[could] be found in countries that once colonized Rwanda if only sufficient time had been [taken] .\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0[T]hey must be hidden somewhere.\u201d[89]<\/strong><\/a> Encouraging an extraterritorial expedition to find laws still enforceable in Rwanda, he cautioned, \u201cwe may find ourselves having repealed legal instruments that could be of certain importance to the country.\u201d[90]<\/strong><\/a> Rubagumya responded that the difficulty of accessing such laws was precisely the reason why the Committee recommended a wholesale repeal: \u201cbecause there is no method of accessing all those laws .\u00a0.\u00a0. [that] is now the reason\u201d for \u201cusing one law to repeal [them] all.\u201d The Committee made clear that it indeed had considered but rejected the MP\u2019s proposed approach of reviewing laws one-by-one, noting the inefficiency other countries faced using that method.[91]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The then State Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Evode Uwizeyimana, pointed to the arguments that enforceable colonial laws are in tension with the rule of law because they are not readily accessible, except for the privileged few who have the resources to scour the earth. He noted the absence of a reliable database or repository of the primary texts that had once been imposed in African colonies.[92]<\/strong><\/a> He challenged the MP, \u201cwhat is then the point if those laws are not available? Where does the person using those laws get them from?\u201d Defending the need to abolish (rather than search for and exhaustively inventory) \u201cany law that the colonialist took with him [or] her in his [or] her bag,\u201d the former State Minister went on, \u201c[h]e may still be keeping it in Belgium and will later come back. If ever he comes back, it is our duty to tell him that the law is among those we have repealed.\u201d[93]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Second, another Member of Parliament, Deputy Nyirarukundo, questioned the impact that repealing colonial statutes would have on prior judicial opinions, issued in reliance on those laws.[94]<\/strong><\/a> Uwizeyimana asserted that jurisprudence would not be invalided just by virtue of the fact that the laws it addressed were repealed, because the decisions were issued by lawfully constituted courts of an independent Rwanda.[95]<\/strong><\/a> Furthermore, he assured Parliament, \u201canything that was done pursuant to the law in force at that time\u201d will remain valid even if Parliament subsequently repeals the law.[96]<\/strong><\/a> To illustrate the example, he argued: \u201c[M]ost of you may have attended .\u00a0.\u00a0. the former National University of Rwanda,\u201d which has been replaced by the University of Rwanda; \u201cShould we say that degrees of those who attended the National University of Rwanda are not valid these days? The answer is simply no.\u201d[97]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Third, Deputy Nyirarukundo also suggested, in passing, that some of the colonial laws may be harmless. The comment inspired a forceful refutation from those in favor of wholesale repeal. Rubagumya cited the example of land reform that had been considered during the development of the legislation.[98]<\/strong><\/a> When a new land law was promulgated several years ago, one of the issues it had to resolve was a colonial holdover from a 1920 law which assigned ownership to whomever held title to the land, even when such title had been obtained through fraud. Uwizeyimana added, \u201c[T]hose who worded the article are the very ones who came and obtained ownership title, but .\u00a0.\u00a0. citizens at that time were not aware.\u201d[99]<\/strong><\/a> Though Parliament had already done away with that particular land provision, Rubagumya and Uwizeyimana took aim at the whole lot.[100]<\/strong><\/a> Uwizeyimana argued, \u201cthese laws pose a serious problem because they take us back into the colonial era. Of course they cause a problem .\u00a0.\u00a0. because we are a sovereign country .\u00a0.\u00a0. that recovered its political independence and .\u00a0.\u00a0. [enjoys] legislative autonomy.\u201d[101]<\/strong><\/a> He elaborated:<\/p>\n

We have royal decrees which are in force in a country which has no kingdom, but [in] a country with a republic. I do not think anyone has an explanation [for] this\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0As of today, what does \u201cRuanda-Urundi territory\u201d stand for? As of today, what does \u201cthe Belgian Congo territory\u201d stand for? Who rules over this territory? .\u00a0.\u00a0. We should not even start a debate over these issues because we would even feel ashamed to see committee clerks taking minutes of debates over those issues![102]<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fourth, the debate addressed questions about the effect on international law in Rwanda. One MP sought clarification as to whether international treaties previously ratified would be affected by the repeal of colonial laws.[103]<\/strong><\/a> Another raised concerns about territorial integrity. Pointing to \u201cthe Berlin Conference of 1885, which established boundaries,\u201d the MP asked if, by repealing pre-independence laws, \u201cwe would be removing boundaries.\u201d[104]<\/strong><\/a> The Committee reassured the Chamber that international treaties would not be affected because they are excluded from the definition of repealed \u201clegal instruments.\u201d[105]<\/strong><\/a> Additionally, Rubagumya responded that \u201cissues related to repealing international treaties, are channeled through another process .\u00a0.\u00a0. conducted with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.\u201d[106]<\/strong><\/a> The country\u2019s boundaries would not be affected, she asserted, because they are also defined by Rwanda\u2019s constitution.[107]<\/strong><\/a> Uwizeyimana concurred: \u201c[T]his issue is beyond the jurisdiction of this Parliament\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0[which] cannot remove those boundaries.\u201d[108]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Parliament\u2019s debate about the persistence of colonial laws depicts a moment in the country\u2019s history where society grappled with questions about its modern identity. As Rwanda marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the genocide that had once torn it apart, its elected representatives continued to reach further back in time, taking aim at the colonial roots of the country\u2019s past conflict. They emerged from the debate with a resounding decision that those relics have no place in Rwanda\u2019s future: with 56 votes in favor and no votes against, the law repealing all colonial laws passed.[109]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The repeal was signed into law by the President of the Republic on August 22, 2019, and on September 23, 2019, the Official Gazette published Law N\u00ba 020\/2019 of 22\/08\/2019 Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence.[110]<\/strong><\/a> The many dangers outlined in The Persistence of Colonial Laws <\/em>were finally laid to rest: There would be no more searching high and low for missing statutes. No more wondering how to adapt the law\u2019s written references to the colonial gouverneur g\u00e9n\u00e9ral<\/em> or to les indig\u00e8nes<\/em>.[111]<\/strong><\/a> No more ministers or prosecutors contemplating whether or not to enforce this one or that one. No more time spent postulating the intention of a policy behind the colonizer\u2019s law. No one in Rwanda ever again asked for her defense against King Leopold\u2019s decree.<\/p>\n

D. The Path Ahead<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>\n

With the repeal executed, the anticipated trade-offs will now become real. Courts will need to consider how to resolve conflicts that were once governed by a colonial rule that no longer applies. Reliance on other applicable rules, precedents, or even considerations of equity may need to provide a bridge to new rules. With time, if any such new rules crystalize, once established they should become easier to anticipate.<\/p>\n

So far, there have not been formal complaints related to how to fill \u201cgaps\u201d; the legal system seems to be adapting. No doubt, some will express frustration by the uncertainty of the new approach. One question that has already arisen in legal circles in the months following the repeal is a question about how to interpret laws that were enacted after independence, but which refer to colonial laws. For example, Law N\u00b045\/2011 of 25\/11\/2011 Governing Contracts provides that the Decree of 30\/07\/1888 on contracts or conventional obligations applies for certain \u201cno[n-]contractual obligations, special contracts, civil liabilities, [and] limitations.\u201d[112]<\/strong><\/a> Legal practitioners have expressed uncertainty about how to understand the \u201cgap\u201d left by abrogation of the colonial decree.<\/p>\n

For statutory interpretation problems such as these, other law reforms that are underway may help. The RLRC has been working to identify and fill any statutory gaps in need of new legislation. A planned interpretation act may also help: Draft Law N\u00b0\u2026\u2026\u2026. Of \u2026\u2026\u2026.. Governing Interpretation of Laws had already been prepared by the Commission prior to repealing the colonial laws. If it is eventually passed, that draft law provides basic rules for interpreting references to repealed or substituted laws.[113]<\/strong><\/a> It would also codify a general savings provision, which would preserve accrued rights and obligations when laws are repealed (much like the rule the Commission\u2019s statement referenced regarding land the Church expropriated).[114]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Conclusion: An Example for Other Post-Colonial Countries<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Rwanda\u2019s action may have come just in time. Eradicating all colonial public health laws just a few months before the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rwanda may have spared itself from costly delays. Liberated from having to navigate through any colonial rules, Rwanda has been able to respond with remarkable agility to a public health emergency of international concern. Gone are the days when government agencies had to seek presidential-level decisions to supersede the obsolete minutiae of colonial decrees, such as those once required by the Ministry of Health to implement international recommendations to combat malnutrition.[115]<\/strong><\/a> The old morass of laws, which had to be circumvented in modern times, had even provided for discriminatory treatment between white Europeans and black Africans when imposing quarantine and isolation rules.[116]<\/strong><\/a> Describing the country\u2019s COVID-19 epidemic response to the World Health Organization, the Minister of Health acknowledged, \u201c[a]ny health system is only as strong as its weakest link.\u201d[117]<\/strong><\/a> That includes its legal underpinnings. Rwanda\u2019s effective response has even attracted international media attention, as some ask what other countries might learn from it.[118]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

By contrast, in India\u2014where the country has undertaken a prolonged investigation into colonial laws before repealing them in piecemeal fashion\u2014not only has the approach been criticized for the reasons described above, but despite the noble effort, the colonial laws continue to impact health. While the government urgently fights an outbreak that has expanded into one of the world\u2019s largest COVID-19 epidemics, critics have argued that a colonial law, the Epidemic Disease Act of 1897, may be hindering the central government\u2019s ability to implement and enforce control measures.[119]<\/strong><\/a> The law, which has been described by critics as \u201cthe most draconian colonial legislation,\u201d was originally enacted by British authorities to combat an outbreak of bubonic plague. On one hand, some claim it does not allow the central government sufficient authority to coordinate an agile and effective response to the pandemic.[120]<\/strong><\/a> On the other hand, it is also criticized by those who feel that it hands unchecked power to state governments, failing to account appropriately for human rights and civil liberties.[121]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Other post-colonial countries might find a valuable example in Rwanda\u2019s experience. For example, colonial mental health laws, vagrancy laws, and witchcraft laws are among the many relics across the region that perpetuate structural violence and even abusive policing. Some have already taken notice.<\/p>\n

In another part of Africa, in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, one presidential candidate in the recent election initiated the debate in that country, citing Rwanda\u2019s repeal as an inspiration for C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire to consider doing the same[122]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

I applauded last month when I saw President Kagame of Rwanda denounce, and commit to change, a thousand laws that had been issued during the colonial period. That\u2019s enormous for Rwanda. A thousand laws that defined everything and they were still there [in the country] after the colonizers departed, and [those laws] continued to preserve the colonial system. That\u2019s what we are doing here\u00a0[in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire]\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0[w]ith monetary affairs, as well as with property affairs, military affairs, educational affairs, administrative affairs, judicial affairs, socio-cultural affairs, sporting affairs, and we should look at these texts and throw all that away and conserve those texts which match our needs, which match our orientation, which match the direction that we want to take. And that is what will bring independence .\u00a0.\u00a0. it\u2019s with that rupture that we should truly commit to our independence.[123]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moreover, even if the suggestion is raised by a politician, it does not need to become a partisan one. Rwanda\u2019s experience shows that colonial laws can be abolished without unwinding all rights previously accorded to one group or another.[124]<\/strong><\/a> If disagreements happen to arise about specific laws that some groups wish to preserve\u2014especially any which may be particularly sensitive in the national context\u2014then compromising to save a list of exceptions need not stand in the way of removing all the rest. Those few exceptions could be managed later, through different reform processes, and on their own timeline. In the meantime, to confront inequality and structural violence in post-colonial societies, the general validity of colonial legal instruments, in aggregate, deserves to be debated as an important normative and non-partisan matter.<\/p>\n

Alice Wairimu Nderitu, an expert on the Kenyan National Committee for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and All Forms of Discrimination, applauded Rwanda\u2019s decision to \u201crepeal[] laws left over from German and Belgian colonial rule era, designed with one central purpose to separate the races, particularly the white and black people, and to subjugate the latter.\u201d[125]<\/strong><\/a> She too has encouraged others to do away with laws \u201cdesigned to subjugate Africans [that] still lurk in some African statutes.\u201d[126]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

However, like Aimable Havugiyaremye,[127]<\/strong><\/a> Nderitu also points to education reform as an essential component of achieving emancipation from colonial law. She suggests \u201c[t]he thoroughness of the colonial enterprise\u2019s educational systems forms part of the reason post-independence governments are not getting rid of colonial laws.\u201d Such reform, she argues, is necessary for future generations to \u201cchalleng[e] hateful beliefs\u201d embedded in colonial laws, which can \u201clead to targeted violence[,] such as understanding the importance of not only knowing why almost one million people were killed in the Rwandan Genocide Against the Tutsi [sic] but more importantly, why ordinary people were convinced it was okay to kill.\u201d [128]<\/strong><\/a> Indeed, the story of Rwanda\u2019s reform shows that scholarship can contribute to supporting real world changes.<\/p>\n

Education and scholarship will also be essential for Rwanda and other countries to more fully heal from those harms that cannot be resolved by eradicating the colonial laws. Though legal reform is important to remove the harms lurking in old laws, education and scholarship is necessary to prevent the next generation of policymakers from inadvertently perpetuating colonial objectives<\/em> through the recycling of the same colonial policies in newly drafted laws.[129]<\/strong><\/a> In addition, education and scholarship is necessary for understanding what, if any, prior practices and solutions were destroyed through colonial legislation but which might warrant restoration in today\u2019s context.[130]<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Reflecting on Rwanda\u2019s experience, Aimable Havugiyaremye says, \u201csovereignty should be understood even in the context of making laws. We are a sovereign country, we know our problems, we should be the ones to solve our problems. In the process of making laws, you are addressing your issues, so you should be the one to make those laws. [Our experience] should even be a lesson for other countries.\u201d[131]<\/strong><\/a> As communities continue to challenge institutional violence and racism all around the world, perhaps other post-colonial countries will find inspiration in Rwanda\u2019s decision to not only topple the monuments, but to also tear down the legal structures of past oppression.<\/p>\n

[hr gap=”30″]<\/p>\n

[*]<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Agnes Binagwaho, M.D., M(Ped), Ph.D. is a pediatrician, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda, and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Dartmouth College\u2019s Geisel School of Medicine. She served for 14 years in senior government positions in Rwanda\u2019s health sector and served as Rwanda\u2019s Minister of Health from 2011 to 2016. Richard Freeman, J.D., M.P.P. works in Rwanda as an Advisor of the Rule of Law Program at Stanford Law School.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Mike Baker et al., Three Words. 70 Cases. The Tragic History of \u2018I Can\u2019t Breathe.\u2019\u201d<\/em> N.Y. Times (June 29, 2020), https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2020\/06\/28\/us\/i-cant-breathe-police-arrest.html [https:\/\/perma.cc\/446Z-NR6Y] (\u201cMr. Floyd\u2019s dying words have prompted a national outcry over law enforcement\u2019s deadly toll on African-American people, and they have united much of the [U.S.] in a sense of outrage that a police officer would not heed a man\u2019s appeal for something as basic as air\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Over the past decade, The New York Times found, at least 70 people have died in law enforcement custody after saying the same words\u2014\u2018I can\u2019t breathe.\u2019\u201d).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Agnes Binagwaho, Richard Freeman & Gabriela Sarriera, The Persistence of Colonial Laws: Why Rwanda is Ready to Remove Outdated Legal Barriers to Health, Human Rights, and Development<\/em>, 59 Harv. Int\u2019l L. J. Online 45 (2018), https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/2018\/06\/the-persistence-of-colonial-laws-why-rwanda-is-ready-to-remove-outdated-legal-barriers-to-health-human-rights-and-development\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/4XAN-FG3X] [hereinafter Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>].<\/p>\n

[3]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Law N\u00ba 020\/2019 of 22\/08\/2019 Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence, Art. 3 (Rwanda), https:\/\/www.rlrc.gov.rw\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/LawsofRwanda\/Laws%20of%20Rwanda\/1._Fondamental\/1.1.%20National%20Instruments\/1.1.12._Repealing_laws_adopted__before_the_independence\/1.1.12.1._Repealing_Laws_of_before_independance_Law_no_020_of_2019.pdf<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/5FR6-RECJ] [hereinafter Law Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence].<\/p>\n

[4]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 45.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 45.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John Campbell & Jack McCaslin, George Floyd\u2019s Murder Revives Anti-Colonialism in Western Europe<\/em>, Council on Foreign Rel. (June 16, 2020), https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/blog\/george-floyds-murder-revives-anti-colonialism-western-europe<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/A5K3-2D9B].<\/p>\n

[7]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ma\u00efth\u00e9 Chini, Burned Leopold II Statue Removed from Antwerp Square<\/em>, Brussels Times (June 9, 2020), https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/all-news\/belgium-all-news\/115940\/burned-leopold-ii-statue-moves-to-antwerp-museum\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/Z4MD-RJHT].<\/p>\n

[8]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Enlever toutes les statues L\u00e9opold II – Alle L\u00e9opold II standbeelden verwijderen <\/em>[Remove all Leopold II statues<\/em>], Change.org, https:\/\/www.change.org\/p\/ville-de-bruxelles-enlever-toutes-les-statues-en-hommage-%C3%A0-l%C3%A9opold-ii<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/Q972-E3UQ]; Scott McClean & Sebastian Shukla, Belgium\u2019s King Leopold II Has a 21st<\/sup> Century Nemesis. He\u2019s 14 Years Old<\/em>, CNN (June 25, 2020), https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/25\/europe\/belgium-king-leopold-statue-petition-colonialism-intl\/index.html<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/4FMG-A2X7].<\/p>\n

[9]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In early June 2020, local authorities removed one such statue from the marketplace in Antwerp, after protestors had burned it. See <\/em>Chini, supra <\/em>note 7; Monika Pronczuk & Mihir Zaveri, Statue of Leopold II, Belgian King Who Brutalized Congo, Is Removed in Antwerp<\/em>, N.Y. Times (June 9, 2020), https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/09\/world\/europe\/king-leopold-statue-antwerp.html<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/5GPM-LQ3D]. Days later, on June 30, 2020, the city council of Ghent removed a bust of King Leopold II from a park. See<\/em> Leopold II Bust Removed in Ghent on Congo\u2019s Independence Day<\/em>, Brussels Times (July 1, 2020), https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/all-news\/belgium-all-news\/119467\/leopold-ii-bust-removed-in-ghent-on-congos-independence-day\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/MT4N-DH7C]. The mayor of Ixelles announced that the municipality would remove a monument to Leopold\u2019s general, \u00c9mile Storms. See <\/em>Gabriela Galindo, Ixelles Will Remove Bust of Leopold II\u2019s \u2018Ruthless\u2019 Colonial General<\/em>, Brussels Times (July 1, 2020), https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/belgium\/119374\/ixelles-will-remove-bust-of-leopold-iis-ruthless-colonial-general\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/D8NV-QVPL] (\u201cDoulkeridis first announced the removal of the statue in May, as decolonisation activists in Belgium, galvanised by massive anti-racism protests in the US, renewed calls for the removal of colonial monuments in Belgium, and namely of statues to Leopold II.\u201d). Unfortunately, not all authorities have followed this movement. Some local Belgian authorities have even continued to clean and restore Leopold monuments that protestors repeatedly deface with graffiti. See, e.g.<\/em>, Leopold II statue defaced again after clean-up<\/em>, Brussels Times (June 22, 2020), https:\/\/www.brusselstimes.com\/brussels\/117936\/leopold-ii-statue-defaced-again-after-clean-up-trone-stop-cleaning<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/V2S6-YLBW].<\/p>\n

[10]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Gov\u2019t of W. Austl., Media Statement: King Leopold Ranges Renamed to Honour Aboriginal Culture (July 3, 2020), https:\/\/www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au\/Pages\/McGowan\/2020\/07\/King-Leopold-Ranges-renamed-to-honour-Aboriginal-culture.aspx<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/R5K8-TZGD].<\/p>\n

[11]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For example, in\u00a0England, \u201ca bronze statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, was toppled into Bristol Harbor . . . And a statue of Robert Milligan, an 18th-century slave trader, was taken down in London.\u201d Pronczuk & Zaveri, supra <\/em>note 9. See also <\/em>Mark Lander, \u2018Get Rid of Them\u2019: A Statue Falls as Britain Confronts Its Racist History<\/em>, N.Y. Times (June 8, 2020), https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/08\/world\/europe\/edward-colston-statue-britain-racism.html<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/G8WJ-BY2P] (\u201c[W]hen these demonstrators dumped the monument of Colston into Bristol Harbor with a splash, they also forced Britain to consider how to confront its racist history at a moment when many of the same questions are being asked in the United States\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. Colston\u2019s ignominious fate may not bode well for a statue of Cecil Rhodes that sits uneasily at the Oxford University college where he studied. Students have campaigned for years to pull down the statue of Rhodes, whose white supremacist views are considered by some to be a precursor to apartheid.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[12]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>U.N. Off. of the High Comm\u2019r for Hum. Rts., Statement to the Media by the U.N. Working Grp. of Experts on People of Afr. Descent, on the Conclusion of Its Off. Visit to Belgium, 4-11 Feb. 2019<\/em> (Feb. 11, 2019), at \u00b6\u00b6 1-3 [hereinafter U.N. Hum. Rts. Statement], https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/EN\/NewsEvents\/Pages\/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24153&LangID=E<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/8SXC-PNJ5].<\/p>\n

[13]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em> \u00b6\u00a013.<\/p>\n

[14]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em> \u00b6\u00a014; see also id.<\/em> \u00b6\u00a045 (\u201cWe welcome the renaming of the former Square du Bastion to Patrice Lumumba Square in June 2018\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0and encourage\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0the removal of markers of the colonial period.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[15]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Belgian Parliament, Chambre des Repr\u00e9sentants de Belgique, Doc 55 1462\/001, Commission Sp\u00e9ciale Charg\u00e9e d\u2019Examiner l\u2019\u00c9tat Ind\u00e9pendant du Congo (1885-1908) et le Pass\u00e9 Colonial de la Belgique au Congo (1908-1960), au Rwanda et au Burundi (1919-1962), Ses Cons\u00e9quences et les Suites qu\u2019Il Convient d\u2019y R\u00e9server <\/em>[Special Commission to Examine the Independent State of the Congo (1885-1908) and the Colonial Past of Belgium in the Congo (1908-1960), Rwanda and Burundi (1919-1962); Their Consequences, and\u00a0 Actions That Should Be Taken], \u00a7\u00a7\u00a03.1, 3.2 (July 17, 2020).<\/p>\n

[16]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em> \u00a7\u00a04.2 (author\u2019s translation).<\/p>\n

[17]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See id.<\/em> \u00a7\u00a04.1 (building a more truthful historical record, the promotion of academic research on colonialism, and opening up and improving access to archives of colonialism in Belgium, Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi); id. <\/em>\u00a7\u00a03.6 (communications and trainings for the police and military to reduce racist and xenophobic violence); id. <\/em>\u00a7\u00a04.2 (financial support for related public initiatives, restitution of stolen patrimony, and the inclusion of victims in such processes (including when there are potential legal or financial consequences)).<\/p>\n

[18]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rosebell Kagumire, Black Lives Matter Resonates with Africans Pushing for Decolonisation<\/em>, Glob. Reporting Ctr., Ideas (June 29, 2020), https:\/\/globalreportingcentre.org\/ideas\/black-lives-matter-resonates-with-africans<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/RS5D-STJ6].<\/p>\n

[19]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See id.<\/em> (\u201c[I]n the wake of Black Lives Matter protests, a petition to change the street names has gained more than 5,000 signatures. It reads, \u2018we believe that the removal of visible vestiges of a colonial hegemony from public spaces is a crucial part of a process of decolonisation and ending an era of domination and impunity.\u2019\u201d). See<\/em> also Kampala, Uganda\u2019s Capital, is Littered with \u2018British\u2019 Roads, 55 Years Since Independence<\/em>, Storyteld, https:\/\/storyteld.net\/kampala-ugandas-capital-is-littered-with-british-roads-55-years-since-independence\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/NU7T-CX5Q] (cited by Kagumire). See, e.g.<\/em>, id. <\/em>at 1:54 (\u201c55 years on, can we really claim we have independence if our capital city is littered with reminders of our former bosses\u201d).<\/p>\n

[20]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Gilson Varela Lopes, Remo\u00e7\u00e3o de monumentos pr\u00f3-escravagistas e coloniais em Cabo Verde <\/em>[Removal of pro-slavery and colonial monuments in Cape Verde], Peti\u00e7\u00e3o P\u00fablica, https:\/\/peticaopublica.com\/pview.aspx?pi=PT100526<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/XFE2-E7YX] (\u201c[V]enho por este meio, solicitar a Vossa Excia. que se julgar competente na mat\u00e9ria, que ordene a retirada imediata da est\u00e1tua de Diogo Gomes sita no Plateau, mesmo nas imedia\u00e7\u00f5es do Pal\u00e1cio da Presid\u00eancia, bem como os bustos\/est\u00e1tuas de exploradores coloniais como Alexandre Albuquerque (Plateau), Serpa Pinto (Fogo), S\u00e1 da Bandeira, Diogo Afonso e S\u00e1 da Bandeira em S\u00e3o Vicente (Mindelo).\u201d [\u201cI hereby request that your Excellency, deemed to have authority over the matter, order the immediate removal of the statue of Diogo Gomes located on the Plateau, in the vicinity of the Presidential Palace, as well as the busts \/ statues of colonial explorers such as Alexandre Albuquerque (Plateau), Serpa Pinto (Fogo), S\u00e1 da Bandeira, Diogo Afonso and S\u00e1 da Bandeira in S\u00e3o Vicente (Mindelo).\u201d]).<\/p>\n

[21]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See UCT Council Votes in Favour of Removing Rhodes Statue<\/em>, Univ. of Cape Town, Newsroom (Apr. 8, 2015), https:\/\/www.news.uct.ac.za\/article\/-2015-04-08-uct-council-votes-in-favour-of-removing-rhodes-statue<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/CE3P-FTCU] (\u201cUCT Council has voted in favour of removing the Cecil John Rhodes statue from UCT’s upper campus, at a special sitting held on 8 April 2015. This follows a month\u2013long series of protests by UCT students which foregrounded the debate around statues, symbols and the impact these have on the climate of inclusiveness on the UCT campus.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[22]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dickens Olewe, Andr\u00e9 Blaise Essama: The Cameroonian Waging War Against a French War Hero\u2019s Statue<\/em>, BBC (July 1, 2020), https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-africa-53148608<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/XMK5-8744].<\/p>\n

[23]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Marie-Louise Ryback Jansen & Steven Stegers, Who Will Deal with the Real Issues Once the Statues Are Out of Sight?<\/em>, Euroclio (June 11, 2020), https:\/\/www.euroclio.eu\/2020\/06\/11\/who-will-deal-with-the-real-issues-once-the-statues-are-out-of-sight\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/R4SX-F9T4]. See also <\/em>U.N. Hum. Rts. Statement, supra <\/em>note 12, \u00b6\u00a013 (\u201cCredible efforts to counter racism require first overcoming\u201d the \u201cinequalities [that] are deeply entrenched because of structural barriers that intersect and reinforce each other.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[24]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2.<\/p>\n

[25]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57.<\/p>\n

[26]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 50.<\/p>\n

[27]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Anne Cornet, Politiques de Sant\u00e9 et Contr\u00f4le Social au Rwanda: 1920-1940, at 462 (Karthala 2011) (authors\u2019 translation) (\u201c[L]es activit\u00e9s d\u00e9ploy\u00e9es dans un objectif sanitaire bien r\u00e9el convergeaient en m\u00eame temps vers des emprises par le syst\u00e8me colonial dans son ensemble (\u00c9tat, missions, secteur priv\u00e9) sur les populations locales.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[28]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em> (authors\u2019 translation) (\u201cLa separation des malades en divers groupes lors des consultations, traitements et hospitalisations est r\u00e9l\u00e9vatrice de la vision colonial de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par les autorit\u00e9s m\u00e9dicales occidentales: un monde o\u00f9 la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 africaine \u00e9tait elle aussi per\u00e7ue comme divis\u00e9e en groupes sociaux et ethniques.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[29]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 46.<\/p>\n

[30]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57.<\/p>\n

[31]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See, e.g.<\/em>, Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 51-53.<\/p>\n

[32]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 56 (\u201cAs our team\u2019s hunt for colonial statutes demonstrates, only those who have significant resources can dig up antiquated laws, which are hard to find. A government minister or a Stanford lawyer can deploy the resources to search the world and find one, but that access is not possible for most ordinary citizens. Yet an ordinary citizen could find herself defending against one such law in a court of law, where ignorance of the law is no defense. The effect is discriminatory, as it privileges some people who can cite laws that others cannot access.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[33]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 56-57.<\/p>\n

[34]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57.<\/p>\n

[35]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57-58.<\/p>\n

[36]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chief Justice Sam Rugege, Address Delivered at the Launch of the Judicial Year (Oct. 10, 2017) (Kigali, Rwanda) [hereinafter October Speech] (unpublished translation provided by Chief Justice Rugege, on file with authors).<\/p>\n

[37]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 58-62.<\/p>\n

[38]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Chief Justice agreed that \u201c[t]o reform or to replace them through the normal process can take an inordinately long time.\u201d October Speech, supra <\/em>note 36.<\/p>\n

[39]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In his October Speech, the Chief Justice advised, \u201cRwanda can abrogate them immediately and replace them progressively as the need arises. This path would not create a vacuum because our law provides for what a judge must do in case of nonexistence of a law that deals with a particular issue. This method of getting rid of colonial law was applied in some countries like the United States and Singapore.\u201d October Speech, supra <\/em>note 36.<\/p>\n

[40]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Compare <\/em>Law Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence, supra <\/em>note 3, with <\/em>Application of English Laws, Act \u00a7 5.1 (1993) (Sing.) (\u201cExcept as provided in this Act, no English enactment shall be part of the law of Singapore\u201d). See<\/em> Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 60 (describing Singapore\u2019s approach, which \u201crepealed all British statutes at once, except for just a few that were expressly singled out for preservation\u201d).<\/p>\n

[41]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Newly Appointed Prosecutor General Commit to Fulfilling Responsibilities<\/em>, Igihe (Dec. 4, 2019), https:\/\/en.igihe.com\/news\/newly-appointed-prosecutor-general-commit-to<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/QE7T-WQ44].<\/p>\n

[42]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Based on the author\u2019s discussions with Alain Songa and Aimable Havugiyaremye in December 2018, Kigali, Rwanda. The retrieved legal instruments are listed in the annex to Law Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence, supra <\/em>note 3.<\/p>\n

[43]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, Chairperson, Rwanda L. Reform Comm\u2019n, in Paris, France (July 14, 2019) [hereinafter July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye].<\/p>\n

[44]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Based on author\u2019s conversations with the Rwanda Law Reform Commission. See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 51-52 (describing the authors\u2019 discovery of colonial laws in the Stanford Law Library\u2019s off-site depository).<\/p>\n

[45]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[46]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, Chairman, Rwanda L. Reform Comm\u2019n, in Kigali, Rwanda (Dec. 21, 2018).<\/p>\n

[47]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[48]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43; for a brief discussion of merits of repeal despite these supposed \u201cgaps\u201d that could result, see Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 3, at 60-61.<\/p>\n

[49]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Based on author\u2019s conversations with the relevant team at the Rwanda Law Reform Commission during their review of the excavated colonial statutes.<\/p>\n

[50]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Based on the author\u2019s discussions with Alain Songa and Aimable Havugiyaremye in December 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda.<\/p>\n

[51]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[52]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[53]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[54]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[55]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra<\/em> note 2, at 61 (describing Law N\u00b0\u00a021\/2012 of 14\/06\/2012 Relating to the Civil, Commercial, Labour and Administrative Procedure, Art. 6, now codified at Law N\u00b0\u00a022\/2018 of 29\/04\/2018 Relating to the Civil, Commercial, Labour and Administrative Procedure, Art. 9).<\/p>\n

[56]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eug\u00e8ne Kwibuka, Inside Colonial Laws: Among Other Things, Serving Alcohol for Free or on Credit Was Illegal<\/em>, New Times (July 1, 2019), https:\/\/www.newtimes.co.rw\/news\/inside-colonial-laws-among-other-things-serving-alcohol-free-or-credit-was-illegal<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/L8X4-6NBH].<\/p>\n

[57]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43. Rwanda inherited a civil law tradition from German and Belgian colonizers, but subsequently introduced elements of common law traditions as it has crafted a hybrid legal system of its own design. The judiciary continues evolving in this \u201chybrid\u201d direction, as the use of common law reasoning becomes more common.<\/p>\n

[58]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rwanda Begins Repealing ALL Pre-Independence Laws<\/em>, The Chronicles (Apr. 4, 2019), https:\/\/www.chronicles.rw\/2019\/04\/04\/rwanda-begins-repealing-all-pre-independence-laws\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/7CFM-43XV].<\/p>\n

[59]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[60]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43. The Commission also determined that the constitutionality of those laws was suspect: Article 95 of the constitution describes the hierarchy of laws, and it does not mention royal decrees. No such royal decrees were issued pursuant to the process described in the Constitution, and the Constitution did not provide for any such exceptions. See <\/em>Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003 Revised in 2015, Art. 95, https:\/\/primature.gov.rw\/fileadmin\/user_upload\/documents\/Official%20Gazettes\/2015%20Official%20Gazettes\/Official_Gazette_no_Special_of_24.12.2015.pdf<\/p>\n

[61]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[62]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[63]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Editorial, Editorial: How Did Colonial Laws Survive This Long?,<\/em> New Times (July 2, 2019), https:\/\/www.newtimes.co.rw\/opinions\/editorial-how-did-colonial-laws-survive-long<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/7XV6-NT82].<\/p>\n

[64]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em> See also <\/em>Kwibuka, supra <\/em>note 56 (\u201cUnder that law of 1930, alcoholic drinks consumed on the spot of their sale had to be paid for at the bar and traders were not allowed to sell the alcoholic drinks on credit or provide them for free. One of the legal analysts at the Law Reform Commission told this newspaper that since that law on prohibition to sell alcohol on credit was never officially abolished; some stubborn revellers can still drink to their thirst and refuse to pay debts.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[65]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Editorial, supra <\/em>note 63.<\/p>\n

[66]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kwibuka, supra <\/em>note 56 (\u201c[A] massive land grab by the Church was made possible by a decree.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[67]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Editorial, supra <\/em>note 63; see also <\/em>Kwibuka, supra <\/em>note 56.<\/p>\n

[68]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kwibuka, supra <\/em>note 56.<\/p>\n

[69]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kwibuka, supra <\/em>note 56.<\/p>\n

[70]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Filip Reyntjens, Comment to Editorial, supra <\/em>note 63.<\/p>\n

[71]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43; Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 59-60 (additional comparative examples of other countries\u2019 experiences repealing colonial law). In addition to the comparative examples from other countries that are contained in Persistence of Colonial Laws <\/em>at 59-60, RLRC\u2019s internal research documents included analysis of how the application of colonial laws was terminated in various U.S. states, Singapore, and Ireland, along with India\u2019s prolonged, piecemeal approach to repealing colonial laws. Materials on file with author.<\/p>\n

[72]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>L. Comm\u2019n of India, Obsolete Laws: Warranting Immediate Repeal, at ii (Interim report) (Sept 2014) (acknowledging delays); id. <\/em>at 4-5 (describing \u201cmethodology [for]\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0collating, classifying and\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0grouping [a] huge gamut of laws spread in vast corpus of enactments\u201d); id. <\/em>at 6 (\u201c253 laws despite having been recommended for repeal in [1998] still exist on the statute-books [in 2014].\u201d); id.<\/em> at 8 (describing process of examining \u201cmore than a thousand statutes,\u201d categorizing them, and then \u201cexhaustively study[ing] the statutes\u201d before identifying \u201ccandidates for repeal\u201d). Much as in Rwanda, the Law Commission of India identified discriminatory laws that were still on the books and long overdue to be repealed. See, e.g.<\/em>, id. <\/em>at 14 (describing the Sonthal Parganas Act, Act 37 of 1855, which referred to a tribal population as an \u201cuncivilized race of people,\u201d language which the Law Commission of India stated \u201chas no place in the modern era\u201d and \u201cruns contrary to the spirit of the Constitution\u201d). See also <\/em>Anu Anand, Indian Government Plans to Repeal Hundreds of Pre-Independence Laws<\/em>, The Guardian (Oct. 29, 2014), https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2014\/oct\/29\/indian-government-repeal-pre-independence-laws<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/4ZQ7-WSLR] (\u201cIf India\u2019s new government has its way\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0legal relics of British rule\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0could soon be repealed in what may prove to be the biggest cull of laws since 1947, when India won its independence. \u201cSome of the laws on our books are laughable. Others have no place in a modern and democratic India,\u201d India\u2019s law minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad, said.\u201d); but see id.<\/em> (citing one Indian advocate who contends, \u201cThe government is simply picking low-hanging fruit to give the perception that they are bringing change. What they should be doing is reforming the penal code.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[73]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See<\/em> Justice in India: Dropping the Scales<\/em>, The Economist (May 21, 2016) (\u201c[Lawmakers] were arguing that a 156-year-old statute that holds defamation to be a criminal offence is both unconstitutional and a danger to free speech (which it is). The petition failed. A two-judge panel\u2019s 268-page ruling on May 13th upheld the colonial-era law.\u201d); Government Plans to Repeal Archaic Laws Pertaining to MHA<\/em>, Times of India (Apr. 11, 2016), https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/Government-plans-to-repeal-archaic-laws-pertaining-to-MHA\/articleshow\/51782460.cms<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/789X-LCZP] (describing government\u2019s \u201cembarrassment\u201d when it lost track of its own process, presenting archaic laws for repeal that had already been repealed at its request); Government\u2019s Plan to Repeal Over 1,000 Archaic Laws Stuck in Rajya Sabha<\/em>, Econ. Times (Dec. 27, 2015), https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/politics-and-nation\/governments-plan-to-repeal-over-1000-archaic-laws-stuck-in-rajya-sabha\/articleshow\/50340866.cms<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/SE2V-33X8] (describing same \u201cembarrassment\u201d); L. Comm\u2019n of India, supra <\/em>note 72 (describing how \u201clogjam[s]\u201d in the parliamentary process have resulted in prolonged delays for getting multiple, separate repeals enacted).<\/p>\n

[74]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Transcript of Parliamentary Debate, Chamber of Deputies of Rwanda (July 15, 2019) (English translation, on file with authors) [hereinafter Parliamentary Debate]; Daniel Sabiiti, MPs to Scrap the Law that Annexed Rwanda to Congo-Belge<\/em>, KT Press (July 16, 2019), https:\/\/www.ktpress.rw\/2019\/07\/mps-to-scrap-the-law-that-annexed-rwanda-to-congo-belge\/<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/GN9F-LS4C] (describing proposal to repeal colonial laws tabled before the Lower House of Parliament and quoting Rubagumya\u2019s denouncement of \u201clegal colonialism\u201d).<\/p>\n

[75]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Biography of Emma Furaha Rubagumya, Republic of Rwanda, Parliament, https:\/\/www.parliament.gov.rw\/index.php?id=125&width=650&detailId=410<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/MK26-3D8M] (last visited Aug. 23, 2020); Rania Abouzeid, How Women Are Stepping Up to Remake Rwanda<\/em>, Nat\u2019l Geographic(Oct. 15, 2019) (describing Rubagumya\u2019s upbringing).<\/p>\n

[76]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Abouzeid, supra <\/em>note 75 (describing Rubagumya\u2019s upbringing).<\/p>\n

[77]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Abouzeid, supra <\/em>note 75 (describing Rubagumya as part of a generation of Rwandan women advocating for progress and quoting her vision for the future: \u201cWe have the frameworks, we have policies, we have laws, we have enforcement mechanisms\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0We\u2019ve walked a journey, we\u2019ve registered good achievements, but we still need to go further to make sure that at some point we shall be totally free of all imbalances.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[78]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sabiiti, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[79]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Sabiiti, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[80]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74. See also Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 59 (\u201cOne wholesale repeal of all pre-independence statutes would be efficient and definitive. The choice is not unprecedented. The former American colonies continued using British statutes for a period of time after independence, while developing a legal tradition of their own. In time, however, states responded to the growing need for certainty about the body of valid positive law in their jurisdictions. That need led to the repeal of all British statutes that had not been affirmatively re-enacted after independence: in 1788, for example, just 12 years after declaring independence from England, the New York legislature repealed all British statutes. Virginia did the same in 1792. As did New Jersey in 1799. And more followed.\u201d). See also<\/em> Sabiiti, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201cMP Rubagumya defended the proposal saying that similar initiatives have been done in the USA in the states of New Jersey for example and this can happen in Rwanda with a single law decreeing scrapping of colonial laws.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[81]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74; see also Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57 (\u201cAcross the board, every colonial law, no matter the content, is in conflict with certain provisions of Rwanda\u2019s Constitution, just by virtue of its ignoble provenance.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[82]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74; Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57 (describing problems with enforcement of colonial laws).<\/p>\n

[83]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74; Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 57 (\u201c[L]aws imposed by foreign sovereigns .\u00a0.\u00a0. reflect an unconstitutional infringement on the Republic\u2019s sovereignty by a past colonial power.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[84]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[85]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[86]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra note 74. See also <\/em>Law N\u00b0 22\/2018 of 29\/04\/2018 Relating to the Civil, Commercial, Labour and Administrative Procedure, Art. 9 (\u201cA judge adjudicates a case on the basis of relevant rules of law. In the absence of such rules, the judge adjudicates according to the rules that he\/she would establish if he\/she had to act as legislator, relying on precedents, customs, general principles of law and doctrine.\u201d). S<\/em>ee also supra <\/em>p. 10 and note 48; Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 61 (describing Law N\u00b0\u00a021\/2012 of 14\/06\/2012 Relating to the Civil, Commercial, Labour and Administrative Procedure, Art. 6. (Article 9 of the 2018 revision)).<\/p>\n

[87]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[88]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[89]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (statement of Deputy Nyirahirwa).<\/p>\n

[90]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[91]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201cAs for us, we have [considered] the approach of proceeding with one law after the other which is the approach opted for by the Republic of India and I think [that] country is still using the same approach .\u00a0.\u00a0. we have specifically opted [to] us[e] one law to repeal all [colonial] laws\u201d so as not to fail \u201cto repeal certain laws simply because we do not know those laws did exist.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[92]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201cThere is no related database\u201d for colonial legal texts that are hard to locate.); Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 53 (\u201c[I]n the absence of a gazette publication of such law\u201d there remains \u201ca degree of uncertainty\u201d about \u201cthe content of the law .\u00a0.\u00a0. and about what .\u00a0.\u00a0. provisions may otherwise still resurface another day.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[93]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74; see also Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 53 (\u201cSo long as the colonial era laws continue to be recognized as possibly valid and enforceable, we cannot rule out the possibility that other problematic health laws will emerge at an inopportune moment. Nor can we pronounce with certainty what the body of positive law is that governs health in Rwanda.\u201d). Nevertheless, Deputy Nyirahirwa was among the very few MPs to remain unpersuaded. He continued to insist on the need to first pursue a Sisyphean task of creating an exhaustive inventory of all these hard-to-find colonial laws. Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (statement of Deputy Nyirahirwa) (\u201cThis is exactly where we still find the gap because we do not yet know the inventory of those laws.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[94]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (statement of Deputy Nyirarukundo) (\u201c[I]f a judge cannot invoke a law of that period, he\/she shouldn\u2019t either use as a reference, any decision made pursuant to that law. This means that we will also consider repealing those decisions.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[95]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201c[The] decisions were made by the Courts of Rwanda. These are constitutional courts.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[96]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[97]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[98]<\/em><\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201c[E]ven after .\u00a0.\u00a0. independence and recently, many laws were enacted aimed at addressing issues facing Rwandan society as it is depicted nowadays, such as issues related to privileged use of land.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[99]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[100]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See<\/em> Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (Rubagumya: \u201cWe no longer need laws dating back to the colonial era.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[101]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[102]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[103]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (statement of Deputy Nyirarukundo).<\/p>\n

[104]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (statement of Deputy Mussolini).<\/p>\n

[105]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201c[Among] terms listed for definitions under this law, the term \u2018international treaties\u2019 was not part of the definitions.\u201d); see also <\/em>Law Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence, supra <\/em>note 3, Art. 2.1 (defining \u201clegal instruments\u201d as laws, decree laws, decrees, legislative ordinances, law-ordinances, ordinances, ordinances of Ruanda-Urundi, royal orders, decrees of the Governor General, orders of the Resident and Special Resident, regulations, presidential orders, ministerial orders, edicts and declarations\u201d).<\/p>\n

[106]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[107]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201c[T]here is a new law determining boundaries of the territory of the Republic of Rwanda and .\u00a0.\u00a0. it is in article five on boundaries of the country which is determined by the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda.\u201d) (citing Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003 Revised in 2015, Art. 5).<\/p>\n

[108]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74.<\/p>\n

[109]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See <\/em>Parliamentary Debate, supra <\/em>note 74 (\u201cThe Law repealing all the laws established before the Independence date is voted for by 56 Deputies, nobody voted against, no abstention, two invalid votes, the law is therefore passed.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[110]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Law Repealing All Legal Instruments Brought into Force Before the Date of Independence, supra <\/em>note 3.<\/p>\n

[111]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 46 (\u201cThis legal arrangement, still in force until 2012, was created by a colonial precedent: prior legal instructions regarding micronutrients had been signed by the Governor of Congo-Rwanda-Burundi in 1940.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[112]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Law N\u00b045\/2011 OF 25\/11\/2011 Governing Contracts, Art. 162 (Official Gazette n\u00ba 04bis of 23\/01\/2012), https:\/\/gazettes.africa\/archive\/rw\/2012\/rw-government-gazette-dated-2012-01-23-no-4%20bis.pdf<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/8G8S-EGHP].<\/p>\n

[113]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 The text will become available upon passage. See <\/em>Draft Law N\u00b0\u2026\u2026\u2026. Of \u2026\u2026\u2026.. Governing Interpretation of Laws, Art. 39.<\/p>\n

[114]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 See supra <\/em>pp. 12-13.<\/p>\n

[115]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 46-47 (describing the need for the Ministry of Health to seek presidential orders to supersede colonial laws in order to implement changes in vitamin fortification); id. <\/em>(describing colonial laws that codified discriminatory practices in the control of infectious diseases and outbreak response).<\/p>\n

[116]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 See Persistence of Colonial Laws<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 2, at 50 (describing examples of discriminatory rules for isolation and infection control).<\/p>\n

[117]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 COVID-19 in Rwanda: A Country\u2019s Response<\/em>, World Health Org.: News Story, (July 20, 2020), https:\/\/www.afro.who.int\/news\/covid-19-rwanda-countrys-response<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/K34T-5BNY].<\/p>\n

[118]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Such successes are of course not attributable only to legal reforms alone; importantly, there have been concerted investments in strengthening the health system over many years. See, e.g.<\/em>, Why Rwanda Is Doing Better Than Ohio When It Comes to Controlling COVID-19<\/em>, Nat\u2019l Pub. Radio, at 00:04 (July 15, 2020), https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2020\/07\/15\/889802561\/a-covid-19-success-story-in-rwanda-free-testing-robot-caregivers<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/W3BB-R6DE] (\u201c[O]ne country on the [African] continent, Rwanda, has managed to keep the virus in check\u201d); id.<\/em> at 03:34 (suggesting Rwanda\u2019s response can serve as \u201can example to other low-income countries.\u201d); How Rwanda Is Successfully Dealing with Coronavirus<\/em>, CNN, at 00:01 (July 22, 2020), https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/videos\/world\/2020\/07\/22\/rwanda-africa-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-testing-tracing-technology-busari-lkl-intl-ldn-vpx.cnn<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/KV3G-7CEB] (\u201cAlthough Rwanda is the mostly densely populated country in mainland Africa, with limited resources as a low income country, it is emerging as one of the few nations that has effectively managed coronavirus and contact tracing\u201d). See also COVID-19 in Rwanda: A Country\u2019s Response<\/em>, supra <\/em>note 117 (describing control measures).<\/p>\n

[119]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 See <\/em>Shantanu Nandan Sharma, How India Is Fighting Coronavirus with a Colonial-Era Law on Epidemics<\/em>, Econ. Times (Mar. 22, 2020) https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/politics-and-nation\/how-india-is-fighting-coronavirus-with-a-colonial-era-law-on-epidemics\/articleshow\/74752473.cms<\/a>[https:\/\/perma.cc\/WDR5-7V74] (\u201cThe main legal weapon the government possess today is the Epidemic Disease Act of 1897, a hurriedly drafted short legislation to stonewall the bubonic plague that devastated life in Bombay in 1896\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0[T]he law does not bestow the [central government] any power beyond issuing advisories and coordinating. It cannot even regulate the transfer of biological samples.\u201d); Gov\u2019t of India, Nat\u2019l Disaster Mgmt. Auth., National Disaster Management Guidelines: Management of Biological Disasters, \u00a7\u00a03.1 (July 2008) (\u201cThe Epidemic Diseases Act was enacted in 1897 and needs to be repealed\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0It has to be substituted by an Act which takes care of the prevailing and foreseeable public health needs including\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0cross-border issues, and international spread of diseases. It should give enough powers to the central and state governments and local authorities to act with impunity, notify affected areas, restrict movement or quarantine the affected area, enter any premises to take samples of suspected materials and seal biological sample transfer, biosecurity and biosafety of materials\/laboratories.\u201d). But see <\/em>Rituraj Tiwari et al., Covid-19: Antique Laws Return to Fight a Modern Disease<\/em>, Econ. Times, (Mar. 21, 2020),https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/politics-and-nation\/covid-19-antique-laws-return-to-fight-a-modern-disease\/articleshow\/74741315.cms<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/P63N-ZJMG] (\u201cThe Covid-19 outbreak has breathed life into antiquated laws, including a 19th century colonial statute that gives [state-level] authorities extraordinary powers to do just about anything to anybody to combat a contagious disease while offering no legal remedy\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0The 1897 law, introduced by the British to combat Bubonic Plague, has been described by historians as the most draconian colonial legislation.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[120]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See, e.g.<\/em>, Sharma, supra <\/em>note 119.<\/p>\n

[121]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 See, e.g.<\/em>, Tiwari et al., supra <\/em>note 119.<\/p>\n

[122]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Mamadou Koulibaly, a presidential candidate, proposed the reform during a web address on October 10, 2019. See <\/em>Mamadou Koulibaly, Jeudi, c\u2019est Koulibaly!<\/em> Le Bon Tyran et l\u2019Abrogation des Lois Coloniales<\/em>, YouTube, at 05:33 (Oct. 10, 2019), https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5K5WMX2VMnk<\/a>[https:\/\/perma.cc\/DBP5-V53X]. See also<\/em> Mamadou Koulibaly, Appelle \u00e0 l\u2019Abrogation des Lois Coloniales en C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire<\/em>, Abidjan.net (Oct. 10, 2019), https:\/\/news.abidjan.net\/h\/664558.html<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/XF7P-XEL4] (\u201cL\u2019opposant ivoirien Mamadou Koulibaly a appel\u00e9 jeudi \u00e0 Abidjan les autorit\u00e9s ivoiriennes \u00e0 abroger \u2018compl\u00e8tement\u2019 toutes les lois colonials encore en vigueur dans le pays, estimant que \u2018nous avons eu l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance sans rompre avec le droit colonial\u2019\u201d) [\u201cThe Ivorian opposition candidate, Mamadou Koulibaly, on Thursday called on the Ivorian authorities in Abidjan to \u2018completely\u2019 repeal all the colonial laws still in force in the country, arguing that \u2018we had independence without breaking with colonial law\u2019\u201d].<\/p>\n

[123]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Koulibaly, Jeudi, c\u2019est Koulibaly!,<\/em> supra <\/em>note 122, at 05:33 (authors\u2019 translation) (\u201cJ\u2019ai applaudi le dernier mois quand j\u2019ai vu le Pr\u00e9sident Kagame du Rwanda dennon\u00e7ait et s\u2019engageait \u00e0 modifier un millier de lois issues de la periode coloniale. C\u2019est \u00e9norme pour le Rwanda. Mille lois qui definissaient tous et puis ils \u00e9taient l\u00e0 dedans depuis les colons sont partis et eux continuaient \u00e0 pers\u00e9v\u00e9rer le syst\u00e8me colonial. C\u2019est ce que nous faisons ici . . . Aussi bien pour les questions mon\u00e9taires, les questions fonci\u00e8res, les questions militaires, les questions scolaires, les questions administratives, les questions judiciaires, les questions socio-culturelles, les questions sportives, et [il nous faut] regarder ces textes et puis virer tout \u00e7a et conservoir des textes correspondants \u00e0 nos besoins, correspondants a notre oreintation, correspondants \u00e0 la direction que nous voulons prendre. Et c\u2019est \u00e7a que sera l\u2019ind\u00e9pendance .\u00a0.\u00a0. c\u2019est avec cette rupture que nous devons vraiment engager notre ind\u00e9pendance.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[124]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See supra <\/em>p. 13; text accompanying supra <\/em>note 66 (describing the rationale to not revoke the Catholic Church\u2019s historic \u201cland grab\u201d and other property rights accrued under colonial laws).<\/p>\n

[125]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Alice Wairimu Nderitu, None But Ourselves Can Free Minds from Mental Slavery<\/em>, East Afr. (Oct. 10, 2019), https:\/\/www.theeastafrican.co.ke\/tea\/oped\/comment\/nderitu-none-but-ourselves-can-free-minds-from-mental-slavery-1429086<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/QN36-UXKR].<\/p>\n

[126]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Id.<\/em><\/p>\n

[127]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n

[128]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 Nderitu, supra <\/em>note 125.<\/p>\n

[129]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 For example, scholars have pointed to how the colonial authorities\u2019 eugenics agenda has been carried over into modern legislation on mental health. See, e.g.<\/em>, Mohamed Ibrahim & Marina Morrow, Weaning Off Colonial Psychiatry in Kenya<\/em>, J. Ethics Mental Health (Special Theme Issue I), at 2-3 (June 17, 2015), https:\/\/jemh.ca\/issues\/v9\/documents\/JEMH_Open-Volume_Article_Theme_Colonization_Weaning_June2015.pdf<\/a> [https:\/\/perma.cc\/7SZA-VT7Y], (describing eugenics policies carried over into Kenya\u2019s 2014 Marriage ACT and Mental Health ACT of 1989).<\/p>\n

[130]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0 See, e.g.<\/em>, id.<\/em> at 3 (\u201cThe French doctors saw Moroccan midwives as a threat to their privilege and power over the dominance of women bodies .\u00a0.\u00a0. [The French colonial administration] regulated and disbanded the traditional Moroccan midwifery practices and finally outlawed them.\u201d).<\/p>\n

[131]<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u00a0 July 2019 Interview with Aimable Havugiyaremye, supra <\/em>note 43.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agnes Binagwaho and Richard Freeman<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":9467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,368,121],"tags":[410],"class_list":["post-9465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-essays","category-article-series","tag-jurisprudence"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/84\/tingey-injury-law-firm-nSpj-Z12lX0-unsplash-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peZu3S-2sF","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/ilj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}