Human Rights First Rwanda Association is Non Profit Making organization based in Kigali, Rwanda.
Duly registered in 2005 as Non Profit Making organization, since its inception has gone great strides in the promotion upholding and advocacy of the rights of the most vulnerable individuals and marginalized groups alike.
In most of our outreach initiatives we undertake, we employ the strategy of using University Law students and paralegals who reach out to the wider community informing them of their inherent rights and empowering them with fundamental legal knowledge.
In 2011-2012 we managed to empower 15,000 members of the community with basic knowledge on their rights through our ‘Access to Justice’ project having trained them with the aid of our University Law students who doubled up as Paralegals.
In the quest of upholding the rights of L.G.B.T.I.’s rights, Human Rights First Rwanda Association was at the forefront in campaigning against the anti-Homosexuality Bill as tabled last year. Great success was registered when this particular bill was set aside, seen as a great victory for gay rights and the organizations values.
We are currently trying to empower and assist 15000 women access land titles registered under their names in a project we are currently running dubbed ‘your land your rights’. We reach out to these marginalized women by the use of the University students who educate these women on land and gender related legislation as well as assisting them in the registration process.
We were amongst the founding members of the Legal Aid Forum, an Umbrella body of all Legal Ad Providers in the country.It brings together over 150 like minded organizations that aim to bring pro bono serviced to those who cannot afford or access it countrywide.Through this network we are able to surge forward a massive front having the support from establishments with similar objectives as ours.
On a Regional Plane we were also amongst the initiative members of The East African Civil Society Forum,a platform that brings together Civil Society Organizations from all East Africa member states. This enables us to network and engage other establishments from across the region breaking the boundaries and borders.We set out to engage the Civil Society in the Region to aptly play a role in the Integration Process as well as share ideas from across the borders.
Through the Eastern Africa International Criminal Justice Initiative,Human Rights First Rwanda Association has taken center stage in trying to promote the role of the International Criminal Court. In a bid to put a complete halt to Impunity, war crimes and Crimes against humanity we collaborate with The International Commission of Jurists,Kenyan Chapter to sensitize the public and the fourth estate on the benefits of this particular court in putting to book all main perpetrators of such attrocitioes that are so rampant in the region.

On a global scale,we are part and parcel of the Beyond 2015 Governance Framework team of expert panelists.Bringing together individuals and organizations from all continents we undertake to design an workable framework that seeks to enhance Governments accountable to the citizenry that put them in power through democratic governance. In the advent of the realization of the respective Millennium Development Targets, worldwide we seek to design a framework that will encompass accountability in administration and accountability BY Governments. This framework is has a timescale of the year 2015 and beyond.