A Proactive Statement Of Demands to the Miss Rwanda Organization

Public of Rwanda criou este abaixo-assinado para pressionar Miss Rwanda Organization

MANIFESTO: A PROACTIVE STATEMENT OF DEMANDS TO THE MISS RWANDA ORGANIZATION

Opening Statement

This manifesto is a statement of solidarity among activists, feminists, organizers, and the public. This statement serves as a demonstration that we believe in the potential of what Miss Rwanda as a space and tool can have for the Rwandan women who contest- to dream, grow and become. For this reason, we are invested in ensuring that it (the organization) provides this for them (the contestants). This manifesto comes after numerous occasions of harassment and degradation that have been experienced by the contestants over past and present Miss Rwanda pageants. As Miss Rwanda (the organization) demands from the contestants to meet certain responsibilities, it is imperative that it (the organization) in turn has a responsibility to do the same for the contestants, and for us (the public) to hold the organization accountable to this.

I. VISION:

It is our hope that the winner of Miss Rwanda will one day be Miss Earth, Miss World, Miss Universe, a “first” in these pageants and be the voice of African women and Africa as a whole to the world. This we believe has the potential to inspire the Black African child to see themselves, to dream, transform, be motivated and pursue their goals. Consequently, it is our hope that in achieving this goal for Miss Rwanda, we are able to nurture, encourage and inspire ALL current and future contestants involved by ensuring that their safety (mental and physical), dignity and interests are protected during the entire pageant process.

II. SAFETY OF THE CONTESTANTS:

The Miss Rwanda Pageant should be invested in the continuous humanization of these women, the essential role they play in our society and how their projects will contribute to the growth and betterment of their communities, nation and continent at large. The Miss Rwanda Pageant should not be a platform to openly humiliate, discourage, attack, discredit and exploit the Rwandan Woman and her experiences. It is the responsibility of the organization to craft and curate an environment that has a ZERO tolerance for the public humiliation of its contestants based off of prejudice. The environment we demand should leave our contestants feeling supported, inspired, valued and ready to make the necessary commitments to the advancement of their communities translated through their projects.

In cases where this environment is threatened, it is the responsibility of the organization to condemn the harassment and degradation of ANY contestant and to make public statements where the rights of the contestants have been violated. It is also the responsibility of the organization to put in place resources that allow contestants to cope with the trauma and continue pageant in a manner that does not shake their confidence (such as but not limited to access to primary counselors).

III. INVESTING IN THE CONTESTANTS:

The organization should be equally, if not more, invested in the process leading to the finale as they do the crowning ceremony. We believe the contestants should gain substantial knowledge and skills to pursue their projects whether they leave the pageant with or without the crown. It is the organization’s duty and responsibility to invest the necessary resources that empower and educate the contestants’ interests and projects and find creative ways to use the sponsorships to support and get behind their projects rather than exploiting the contestants’ newly found platform to benefit the businesses concerned.

The requirements to participate in Miss Rwanda pageant should be revised to reflect Rwanda’s social and cultural progression as indicated in the organization’s mission statement. We demand that Miss Rwanda invests in a socially conscious form of selecting the pageant winners, that it does not invest in sexist and patriarchal teachings that hinder us from moving forward as a society. Moreover, we demand that Miss Rwanda pageant encourages the contestants to use the language of choice to express their brilliant ideas and provide resources such as translators to ensure an environment that promotes their language of choice. In like manner, the organizers, journalists, coaches and judges must all be trained, vetted and supervised to ensure their interests fall in favor of the contestants and their development.

IV. TO CONCLUDE:

The winner of Miss Rwanda, runner-ups and all participating contestants, we hope represent the fierce, resilient, resistant, proud culture and people of Rwanda. If the organization continues to be indifferent to prioritizing the contestants’ needs at the price of the integrity, dignity, and confidence of our brave Rwandan Sisters, and fail to uphold the necessary changes, the collective of Rwandan women and men involved in this letter and those invested in seeing better for Miss Rwanda pageants will do everything in our capacity to ensure we remove ourselves and support from the pageant.

We will not continue to stand by and watch our fellow Rwandan women comrades be unfairly presented, manipulated, misjudged and unjustly treated by an uncommitted organization misleading communities that would otherwise learn and be inspired from such a platform.

We believe Rwanda as a nation is set on empowering women and therefore, whether or not these guidelines are reflective of general pageant guidelines, it is our responsibility as a people to pioneer a new era of conducting pageants and set an example for the rest of the world.

Signed in Solidarity with past, present and future contestants of Miss Rwanda,

Concerned Public

https://www.change.org/p/public-and-people-of-rwanda-restructure-miss-rwanda-pageant-to-protect-contestants-and-reflect-the-progress-of-rwanda?recruiter=166639899&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition&use_react=false