Delivered at the 62nd Session of the Human Rights Council by the Center for Reproductive Rights Africa regional team. Speaker: Nyokabi Njogu (Legal Advocacy Advisor, Center for Reproductive Rights)

Mr. President,

The Center for Reproductive Rights welcomes Rwanda’s recent adoption of the Law Regulating Health Services (Law N° 026/2025) which increases access to sexual and reproductive health by removing third party consent requirements for adolescents aged 15 and above. We also welcome Rwanda’s acceptance of several recommendations to strengthen access to maternal and reproductive health, and access to comprehensive sexuality education, which would strengthen implementation of this law.

We regret that Rwanda has not accepted a key recommendation on decriminalizing access to abortion in all circumstances. Rwanda has taken some steps to fulfil its obligations towards safeguarding the right to safe abortion: the 2018 law on Determining Offences and Penalties in General (Law N°68/2018 of 30/08/2018, 2018 Rwanda Penal Code) sets out the circumstances under which an abortion is legal, including if the pregnant person is a child, if the pregnancy was the result of rape, forced marriage or incest; or if the pregnant person is at risk or the fetus is at risk due to the pregnancy.

However, the law still mandates that abortions be performed only by a “recognized medical doctor,” excluding other qualified medical practitioners. Given the limited number and uneven distribution of medical doctors, this requirement substantially restricts access to lawful abortion services and results in unnecessary delays, particularly for women and girls in rural and remote areas. As a result, some women resort to unsafe abortion. This remains a significant contributor to maternal mortality, accounting for an estimated 10 per cent of maternal deaths in Rwanda.

We urge the Government of Rwanda to fully decriminalize abortion in line with international and regional human rights standards. We further call on Rwanda to remove unnecessary barriers to accessing lawful abortion by authorizing appropriately trained mid-level healthcare providers to provide abortion services, thereby ensuring that services are available, accessible, timely and equitable for all who need them.

Thank you.