Despite Rwanda’s commendable strides in reducing poverty, more than a quarter of its working citizens remain trapped in poverty due to low wages.
This was one of the concerns raised by Olivier De Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, during a press briefing on May 30, in Kigali.
Concluding his 12-day fact-finding mission — from May 19 to May 30 — in the country, De Schutter called on the government to urgently establish a statutory minimum wage—a measure he said is critical to protecting workers from “poverty wages” and ensuring that economic growth effectively translates into real improvements in people’s lives.