In 1997, government authorities in Kigali, Rwanda began to regularly sweep the city to clear streets and public spaces of what they regard as undesirable persons, such as street children, beggars, street vendors and sex workers. In the early years, street children were sent to reception centers far from the capital, but recently, children have been held at an unofficial detention center located in a neighborhood of Kigali called Gikondo. This report details the conditions of those children, held in overcrowded buildings and suffering from a lack of adequate food, water, and medical care, and subjected to abuse. This detention violates provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child, to which Rwanda is a party, as well as the Rwandan law on the Rights and Protection of the Child Against Violence.
