Fw: [ibukabose_rengerabose] Fw: Rwanda: deteriorating human rights and security situation

 Rwanda: deteriorating human rights and security situation

 

• rwandabridgebuilders@gmail.com
  

  H.E. Amb. Smail Chergui,

  Commissioner, Peace and Security,

  African Union (AU)

  Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

  October 20, 2020

  Your Excellency,

  We, a coalition of 37 organizations, write to you in your capacity as the Chairperson of the

  African Commission on Peace and Security (The Commission), to appeal you to urgently

  address the deteriorating human rights and security situation in Rwanda.

  We reiterate that Rwanda continues to face allegations of human rights violations that are

  of an extremely serious nature. These allegations have been found credible by none less

  than Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and UN panel on human rights.

  Several well-grounded allegations exist about the extreme lack of fundamental freedoms in

  Rwanda, which it is charged, has resulted in serious violations of freedom of expression,

  association and movement, as well as entrenched impunity and serious human rights

  violations. Together, these make Rwanda the most acute human rights abuser within the

  Great Lakes region..

  Your excellency, we draw your attention to grave human rights violations in Rwanda that

  have been internationally recognised and reports of ongoing human rights violations that

  are regularly highlighted. Despite Rwanda's repeated denial, these serious and persistent

  violations have been widely documented by Human Rights bodies for the past 26 years.

  They also led to a UN Human Rights Council resolution on the country earlier this year. The

  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has always named Rwanda among the top 10

  countries in the world that have gone unpunished for intimidation and reprisals against

  critics.

  Your excellency, in 1994, Rwanda suffered a tragedy that left over one million of its citizens

  dead as a result of war and genocide. The war and genocide resulted in immense suffering

  to millions more. The war and genocide have had far-reaching repercussions for both

  Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Central Africa as a whole.
• President Kagame is perceived by most outsiders as both invincible and indispensable to

  national and regional stability. There is, however, more to Rwanda and Paul Kagame than

  new buildings, clean streets, and efficient government than President Kagame's famous

  friends in high places in Europe and America care to admit. Rwanda is essentially a hard -

  line, one-party, secretive police state with a façade of democracy. The ruling party, the

  Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), has closed space for political participation. The RPF does not

  tolerate political opposition or open competition for power. The government ensures its

  monopoly of power by means of draconian restrictions on the exercise of the fundamental

  human rights of citizens. The press, civil society and opposition parties are deprived of

  freedom to operate freely. President Kagame and the ruling party that he leads have always

  depended on repression to stay in power.

  State institutions, especially law enforcement agencies, the judiciary and security services,

  serve to protect the RPF's, and ultimately Kagame's power monopoly instead of protecting

  the fundamental human rights of citizens. Repression has again become particularly acute in

  recent months. There have been assassination attempts, killings and enforced

  disappearances of members of the press and political opposition within and outside

  Rwanda. Purges of political enemies, real and imagined, within the ruling party government

  continue unabated. These purges have now been extended to the military. A climate of fear

  and terror has enveloped the nation. Rwanda is in crisis. The situation that prevails raises

  serious questions about the country's future.

  Current Political status

  Rwanda is a one-party dictatorship under President Kagame. President Kagame has

  effectively corrupted the founding ideals of the RPF. Through RPF, President Kagame denies

  the people of Rwanda the opportunity to exercise their fundamental human rights,

  particularly the right of political participation. President Kagame is both corrupt and

  authoritarian. He uses repression to ensure his continued monopoly of power. State

  institutions violate the most fundamental human rights of the people, including the right to

  life and the integrity of the person, to keep the President Kagame in power. State security

  institutions enjoy impunity for grave human rights violations against critics and opponents

  of the government. President Kagame's abuse of the institutions of the state to support his

  quest for absolute power and economic gain is criminalising the fabric of the Rwandan state.

  Judicial system

  Your excellency, in Rwanda, the functioning of the justice system is constrained by lack of

  judicial independence. The judiciary does not enjoy independence. The independence of

  Rwanda's judiciary is compromised by the executive. The President, through the control that

  he exercises over the Senate Chamber of the legislature, controls most senior judges

  (including the Supreme Court) and through them, the rest of the judiciary. Most of the
• members of the judiciary are cadres of the ruling party, Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). The

  RPF compels its members who have been appointed to the judiciary to continue to owe

  allegiance to the party; to participate in some activities of the party and to pay financial

  contributions to the party's campaign and daily operation.

  Judicial authorities operate in a political context where the executive continues to dominate

  the judiciary and where there is an official antipathy to views diverging from those of the

  government and the dominant party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The judiciary is

  particularly vulnerable to outside interference in cases involving political issues. The

  President, his close advisers and security services personnel frequently coerce members of

  the judiciary to make judicial decisions to suit the interests of the regime. Instead of being

  the protector and defender of citizens' fundamental human rights, the judiciary has become

  one of the main tools by which the regime perpetuates authoritarian rule by persecuting

  opponents and critics.

  Persecution of Political Opponents

  The regime in Rwanda has for years jailed political opponents and disqualified them from

  running for office. Since the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front took power, Rwandans have

  faced huge, and often deadly, obstacles to participating in public life and voicing criticism of

  government policies. Killings and disappearances need to be placed in the context of many

  years of similar violence for which no one has yet been held to account. In this chilling

  atmosphere, it is unsurprising that would-be government critics practice self-censorship.

  The regime uses the coercive instruments of the state, that is the military, security services

  and police, to sustain the status quo in power against the will of the people. State security

  officers continue to commit grave human rights abuses to suppress all political opposition

  and critics of government. Impunity for gross human rights abuses is worse than it was prior

  to the genocide. Rwanda remains deeply divided along ethnic lines. As a result of these and

  other factors, Rwanda remains unstable and prone to violent, and identity-based conflict.

  The report documents how opposition politicians, journalists and human rights defenders

  have faced restrictions on their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful

  assembly in the two decades since the genocide. They have been jailed, physically attacked

  – even killed – and forced into exile or silence.

  Independent human rights defenders who criticize government policies or are perceived as

  opponents to government have faced different forms of attacks and restrictions in Rwanda.

  NGOs are subject to onerous – and costly – registration procedures. The nebulous charge of

  promoting 'genocide ideology' has been levied at international and domestic human rights

  organizations who criticize the government.
• Rwanda's history of political repression, attacks on opposition figures and dissenting voices

  in the context of previous elections, stifles political debate and makes those who might

  speak out think twice before taking the risk.

  People accused of crimes against state security continued to be arrested and held

  unlawfully in military camps. Many people held in these camps were tortured in an attempt

  to force them to confess or accuse others. Authorities continued to round up street

  vendors, sex workers, street children, and other poor people and detained them in so-called

  transit centres across the country.. Conditions in these centres are harsh and inhumane, and

  beatings are common.

  For years, thousands of men, women, and children—many of them street children,

  commercial sex workers, or street hawkers are detained unlawfully, without charge or trial,

  in very poor conditions in an unrecognized detention centre commonly known as Kwa

  Kabuga, in the Gikondo area of Kigali. Many were beaten by police, or by other detainees in

  the presence of police.

  Rwanda has degenerated into a criminal state. Victims of human rights violations committed

  against persons considered to be opponents of the government do not have an opportunity

  for seeking redress from the courts. Agents of the state are, to this day, still able to commit

  grave human rights abuses that is killings, torture, and disappearances, without fear of

  being held accountable. Impunity for human rights violations is now far more deeply

  entrenched in the Country, Rwanda.

  Reconciliation

  The promotion of national reconciliation should have been the foremost priority of

  Rwandan society in the aftermath of the genocide. Instead, President Kagame's pursuit of

  absolute power, his intolerance for political opposition, persecution of opponents and critics

  of the regime and partisan nature of the processes of accountability for past human rights

  violations that Rwanda has undertaken, have all led to elusiveness of national unity and

  reconciliation. As a result of the policies that the regime has pursued since it took control of

  government, Rwandan society remains deeply divided.

  The politics of ethnicity remain intractable in Rwanda. Armed insurgents continue to wage

  war against the Rwandan state from their sanctuaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

  twenty-six years after the genocide.. Externally - based unarmed opposition has on several

  occasions called for dialogue on how to resolve Rwanda's continuing crisis, but the regime

  has refused to heed to that call of negotiating with its opponents.

  The Kagame led regime has failed to engage and lead Rwandan society in genuine

  reconciliation. The social conditions of post -genocide Rwanda remain constructed in terms

  of ethnic identity. The reconciliation that the Rwanda regime envisions is politically
• constructed on the terms of the ruling party - RPF and President Kagame, which are

  insufficient for ensuring the long-term stability of Rwanda. Lack of national dialogue on

  reconciliation processes has very profound implications for the long -term stability of

  Rwanda and the security of its population. There cannot be genuine reconciliation in

  Rwanda until the grievances of both Tutsis and Hutus communities are well and genuinely

  discussed.

  Your excellency, Rwanda is a member state of the AU, and it is expected to uphold the

  human rights principles set out in AU's Constitutive Act. Your Excellency, the on-going

  violations of human rights in Rwanda are not in keeping with the country's obligations and

  domestic laws, including the constitution and major international and regional human rights

  instruments ratified by Rwanda. Paul Kagame and his regime violate objectives 3(g) and (h)

  of the Constitutive Act of the AU which enjoins AU member States to promote popular

  participation and human and people's rights, respectively. Recalling the role of the AU as

  the lead regional institution tasked to better the lives of the people of Africa, and particular

  Rwandan citizens as in this case, we respectfully ask you to take measures to ensure that

  the regime of president Paul Kagame restores respect for the rule of law, ensures ample

  protection of human rights and aligns its practices to ratified international and regional

  human rights standards including the Constitutive Act of the AU and the African Charter on

  Human and Peoples' Rights. We respectfully ask you to consider including the situation of

  human rights in Rwanda as a point for discussion in the agenda of the next Summit of the

  Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the AU with recommendations for the

  Summit to deliberate on asking the government of Rwanda to:

  1. Take steps to ensure full compliance with international and regional human rights

  standards;

  2. Release of all political prisoners, human rights campaigners and journalists;

  3. Respect separation of powers by refraining from interfering with the system of

  administration of justice;

  4. Institute effective mechanisms to protect journalists, civil society groups and human

  rights defenders who work for the promotion and protection of human rights;

  5. Halt enforced disappearances, investigate and punish perpetrators of enforced

  disappearances;

  6. Investigate and punish perpetrators and stop attacks against political opponents,

  peaceful decent and journalists;

  7. Allow full and credible international investigations into all allegations concerning

  violations of international humanitarian law in the country;
• 8. Respect the right to access to information and freedom of the media. In particular,

  lift the ban against independent press and media;

  9. Investigate and take actions to punish perpetrators of torture and ensure assistance

  and reparations to the victims;

  10. Address lengthy pre-trial detention and release all detainees who are being held in

  pre-trial detention without proper charges;

  11. Restore Constitutional provisions that guarantee separation of powers and re-instate

  the independence of the three branches of government;

  12. Promote a culture of dialogue and participation and comply with internationally and

  regionally recognised standards on the rule of law and civic space;

  13. Start direct dialogue with Rwandans in exile; and

  14. Accept dialogue with armed groups operating in DR Congo.

  CC: H.E. Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chairperson, AU Commission

  H.E. Amb. Dr. Namira Negm, AU Legal Counsel

  H.E.. Amb. Augustino Njoroge, Interim Chairperson of the Reconstituted Joint

  Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC)

  Commissioner Solomon Dersso, Chairperson, African Commission on Human and

  Peoples' Rights (ACHPR)

  H.E. Amb. Mrs Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, Rwanda's Ambassador to Ethiopia and

  Permanent Representative to the African Union

  Signatories:

  1. Action citoyenne pour la Paix

  2. Amahoro-PC

  3. Association des rescapés du génocide des réfugiés rwandais au Congo (Ex-Zaïre-

  RDC) ARGR-Intabaza

  4. Centre de Lutte contre l'Impunité et l'Injustice au Rwanda (CLIIR)

  5. Comité pour l'Unité, la Paix et la Réconciliation au Rwanda (CUPR)

  6. Congrès rwandais du Canada (CRC)

  7. Convention Nationale Républicaine (CNR-Intwari)

  8. Comité de Suivi de la Problématique des Réfugiés Rwandais (CSPR)

  9. COVIGLA, Collectif des victimes des crimes de masse commis dans la region des

  grands lacs africains
• 10. Democratic Rwanda Party, DRP-ABASANGIZI

  11. FDU-Inkingi

  12. Fondation Ibukabose-Rengerabose, Mémoire et Justice pour tous

  13. Global Voice of Rwandan Refugees (GVRR)

  14.. Groupe d'initiative France-Rwanda

  15. Inganzo Gakondo

  16. Initiative du Peuple pour l'Alliance Démocratique (IPAD-Umuhuza)

  17. Initiative Humanitaire pour la région des grands lacs (IHRGL)

  18. Initiative HUMURA

  19. Institut Seth Sendashonga pour la Citoyenneté Démocratique ISCID asbl

  20. JAMBO asbl

  21. Liberté d'Expression Culture et Paix, LECP Info

  22. Mouvement Républicain pour la Paix et le Progrès, MRP

  23. MRCD-Ubumwe

  24. Norway Sub Sahara Africa development organization (NSADO)

  25. Observatoire des Droits de l'Homme au Rwanda (ODHR)

  26. Organization for Peace, Justice and Development in Rwanda and Great Lakes

  Region (OPJDR)

  27. Pacte Démocratique du Peuple (PDP-IMANZI)

  28. PS Imberakuri

  29. Réseau International pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme au

  Rwanda (RIPRODHOR)

  30.. RNC-Ihuriro

  31. Rwanda National Forum (RNF)

  32. Rwandan Alliance for the National Pact (RANP-Abaryankuna)

  33. Rwandan American Youth Association

  34. Rwandan Platform for Dialogue, Truth, and Justice (RDTJ)

  35. Rwandiska föreningen för mänskliga rättigheter (RFMR)

  36. Rwandiske Forum i Oslo, FORUM RWANDAIS D'OSLO (RFO), Norvège

  37. United Freedom Fighters (UFF-INDANGAMIRWA)

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Envoyé par : Michel Niyibizi <niyimike@yahoo.fr>

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