Our Impact
Transforming lives through legal aid, advocacy, and empowerment.
We provide direct legal aid services, including case intake, legal advice, document preparation, court representation, and follow-up. Our legal staff handle cases involving gender-based violence, family disputes, land and property rights, inheritance, and child maintenance, all at no cost to the client
Not every dispute needs to go to court. Haguruka offers facilitated alternative dispute resolution – community, family, land, and restorative mediations – that resolve conflicts consensually, reduce court backlogs, and restore relationships through negotiated, fair agreements.
Through community dialogues, media campaigns, mobile legal clinics, and printed materials, we inform communities about their rights, relevant laws, GBV prevention, and available services. This increases reporting, help-seeking, and community-led protection.
We train paralegals, community facilitators, service providers, and local leaders in key legal skills and laws. This strengthens local protection systems, improves service quality, and sustains community-led responses to injustice and violence.
1.Equal property inheritance and succession rights
Advocated for and contributed to drafting the 1999 Succession Law, which granted women and girls equal rights to inherit family property alongside their male counterparts, ending a long-standing legal exclusion that had severe consequences for widows and daughters.
2. Reforming discriminatory laws on citizenship and adultery
Successfully challenged a provision that denied Rwandan citizenship to children born to a Rwandan mother and a foreign father. Also exposed and advocated against a 1977 penal code clause that sentenced women convicted of adultery to twice the prison term imposed on men for the same offence; both were reformed as part of broader legal overhaul efforts.
3. Shaping Rwanda's 2003 Constitution
Presented the civil society position on women's rights provisions to the Constitution and Legal Reform Commission, including the 30% quota for women in decision-making. Ninety-eight percent of HAGURUKA's proposed provisions were incorporated into the final constitution.
4.Establishing joint spousal property ownership and the 50/50 principle
Challenged discriminatory provisions in family law and contributed to establishing equal co-ownership of matrimonial property, enshrined in both legislation and land titles, giving both spouses a legally recognised 50% stake.
5.Promoting access to justice through free legal aid
: Provided court representation for women and children unable to afford legal services, trained and deployed a nationwide paralegal network – now 416 paralegals, one per sector and established legal clinics accessible in all provinces and districts.
5.Promoting access to justice through free legal aid
Provided court representation for women and children unable to afford legal services, trained and deployed a nationwide paralegal network – now 416 paralegals, one per sector and established legal clinics accessible in all provinces and districts.
6.Prevention and response to gender-based violence
Organised awareness campaigns, delivered psychosocial support to survivors, and established four GBV safe shelters across districts in partnership with local government, providing refuge for women at risk of domestic violence.
7.Advancing forensic justice through DNA services
Advocated for access to DNA testing for vulnerable women and children, particularly in paternity cases, making it available to those who could not otherwise afford it – now a cornerstone of HAGURUKA's legal aid model.