Violence against children and youth with disabilities in Rwanda

Persons with disabilities are an understudied population in Rwanda, and children and youth with disabilities (CYWD) have received little attention. With the exception of the National Assessment conducted in 2016, only a handful of reports are in the public domain. These tend to be small-scale scoping exercises undertaken in recent years; most are general in nature and have tended to focus on education. To date, there have been no studies published that specifically examine the relationship between children and youth with disabilities and violence in institutional care in Rwanda, despite the risks they face as a result of institutionalization and the fact that they represent the largest group of children believed to be at highest risk of violence.

This qualitative study fills this important gap. It was designed to better understand the patterns and dynamics of violence experienced by this vulnerable and frequently overlooked group of children and youth. Its findings are intended to accompany the prevalence data derived from the 2015 national violence against children and youth survey (VACYS) in order to ensure that their reality is given adequate attention and consideration in the development of a more comprehensive plan to tackle violence against all children and youth in Rwanda.