The Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Commission (RDRC), was formed in January 1997 as an autonomous Government Commission, and was formally established in the year 2002 by a Presidential decree No 37/01 of 09/04/2002. It is charged with planning and implementing the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme for the ex-combatants. The Commission is composed of six Commissioners including the Chairman. A Technical Secretariat (TS), headed by a Programme Coordinator, assists the Commission to implement the programme, and has five departments, namely: Operations, Finance and Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Demobilization, Information and Sensitization as well as Procurement Coordination. Under the Operations department are 5 Provincial Reintegration Offices (PROS) which support the Reinsertion and Reintegration activities of the programme in the 30 Districts. The goal of the Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme is to ensure that all the ex-combatants demobilised, are socially and economically reintegrated successfully into the communities of return. The programme will also contribute to fostering unit and reconciliation within Rwanda and contribute to poverty reduction in the country. The objectives through which the Rwanda Demobilisation and Reintegration Programme (RDRP) will contribute to the goals are to:• Demobilise and support the transition into civilian life of about 20,000 members of Rwandese Defence Forces. This will reduce the size of the army to a number that is economically sustainable and thus free up scarce domestic resources for economic and social development;• Demobilise and support the transition into civilian life of over 16,000 members of ex-Armed Groups from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This will contribute to strengthening peace within the Great Lakes Region;• Support the reinsertion and reintegration of about 15,000 ex-FAR settled in the country and not involved in armed rebellion.• Support the social and economic reintegration of all vulnerable ex- combatants.• Facilitate the reallocation of Government expenditure from defence to social and economic sectors. The guiding principles in the demobilisation and reintegration programme are:All categories of ex-combatants receive appropriate assistance; Those guilty of genocide offences under Rwandan laws, will be excluded from the programme; The ex-combatants independently choose their community of settlement and their path to economic reintegration; Reintegration seeks to foster community participation; andFor programme implementation, the RDRC to the extent possible, relies on the existing Government structures with a view of facilitating the social reintegration of ex-combatants and building sustainable capacities beyond programme duration. Source: RDRC website
