The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda

We, the People of Rwanda; (a) HONOURING our valiant ancestors who selflessly sacrificed their lives to found Rwanda and the heroes who struggled for security, justice, freedom, and restoration of our Nation’s tranquility, dignity and pride; (b) CONSIDERING that we enjoy the privilege of being one nation, of sharing a common language and culture and having a long-shared history, all of which must lay the foundation for a common vision of our destiny; (c) CONSCIOUS of the Genocide committed against the Tutsi that decimated more than 1,000,000 sons and daughters of Rwanda, and further conscious of the dark moments in our country’s history; (d) RECOGNIZING that peace, security, unity and reconciliation of the people of Rwanda are the pillars of development; (e) COMMITTED to building a State governed by the rule of law based on the respect for human rights, freedoms and on the principle of equality of all Rwandans before the law as well as that of equality between women and men; (f) COMMITTED further to building a State based on consensual and pluralistic democracy founded on power-sharing, national unity and reconciliation, good governance, development, social justice, tolerance and resolution of problems through dialogue; (g) RESOLVED to prevent and punish the crime of genocide, fight genocide negationism and revisionism and eradicate genocide ideology and all its manifestations, divisionism and discrimination based on ethnicity, region or any other ground; (h) RESOLVED further to uphold our values based on family, morality and patriotism, and ensure that all the branches of government work for our common interest; (i) EXERCISING our sovereign and inalienable right to freely choose the form of government for our country; (j) DO ADOPT, through referendum, the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda: