Kingdom of Rwanda and “Tutsi” were socioeconomic, not ethnic, distinctions. In fact, one could "kwihutura", or “shed Hutuness”, by accumulating wealth and rising through the social hierarchy. Kingdom of Rwanda The Kingdom of Rwanda was a pre-colonial kingdom in East Africa beginning in c. 1081, which survived with some of its autonomy intact under German and Belgian colonial rule until its monarchy was abolished in the Rwandan Revolution. After a 1961 referendum, Rwanda became a republic and received its independence in 1962. In the 15th century, one chiefdom managed to incorporate several of its close neighbor territories establishing the Kingdom of Rwanda after
Human trafficking in Rwanda Human trafficking in Rwanda Rwanda is a source and, to a lesser extent, destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Rwandan girls are exploited in involuntary domestic servitude within the country; some of these children experience physical or sexual abuse within their employer's household. Older females offer vulnerable younger girls room and board, eventually pushing them into prostitution to pay for their keep. In limited cases, this trafficking is facilitated by women who supply females to clients or by loosely organized prostitution networks, some operating in secondary