• Human Rights in Rwanda

    Rwanda has made important economic and development gains, but the government has continued to impose tight restrictions on freedom of expression and association. Opposition parties are unable to operate. Two opposition party leaders are in prison and other party members have been threatened. Two journalists are also in prison, and several others have been arrested. Community-based gacaca courts, which tried cases related to the 1994 genocide, closed. The trial of Jean Bosco Uwinkindi opened, the first case transferred to Rwanda by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Several governments suspended some assistance to Rwanda because of Rwanda’s military support for the M23 rebels, who have committed serious abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

  • Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda looks on during his first appearance before judges at the International Criminal Court in the Hague on March 26, 2013.
    © 2013 Reuters
    DR Congo: Victims, Activists Respond to Warlord’s Surrender

    Congolese human rights activists and victims of abuses allegedly carried out by Bosco Ntaganda’s troops have expressed support and relief at the rebel leader’s transfer to the International Criminal Court.

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Rwanda

  • DR Congo: Congolese Warlord Should Face Justice
    Mar 18, 2013
    The Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs today announced that Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese rebel leader wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, surrendered himself to the United States embassy in Kigali, Rwanda.
  • DR Congo: War Crimes by M23, Congolese Army
    Feb 5, 2013
    M23 rebels and Congolese army soldiers raped scores of women and committed other war crimes during the rebels’ occupation of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in late 2012. Ongoing talks among parties to the conflict, countries in the region, and the United Nations should ensure that any agreements include holding those responsible for war crimes to account and that rebel commanders with abusive records do not serve in the Congolese army.
  • Barack Obama: Dump These 8 Unsavory Allies
    Jan 2, 2013
    If Obama wants to bolster his legacy in his second term, he can and should get tough on some of the United States' most unsavory friends and allies. Here are eight leaders to start with.
  • Ending the cycle of abuse in Congo
    Jan 2, 2013
    On Nov. 19, armed men from a rebel group called the M23 were looking for a prominent civil society leader in a village outside Goma, a provincial capital in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He'd been in hiding for several weeks after receiving text messages threatening him for his public denunciations of M23 abuses. When the rebels didn't find him, they shot his colleague, killing him.
  • Rwanda’s Rampaging Rebel Force
    Dec 28, 2012

    Despite supporting a brutal rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda is about to take a seat on the U.N. Security Council. Few countries dare challenge the Security Council the way Rwanda does; even fewer get away with it. Yet on Tuesday, despite backing an abusive rebel group that has attacked U.N. peacekeepers in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda will take a two-year seat on the council.  

  • DR Congo: US Should Urge Rwanda to End M23 Support
    Nov 20, 2012

    The United States government should publicly support sanctions against Rwandan officials backing the armed group M23, which has been responsible for widespread war crimes in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. M23 rebels, whose commanders have been implicated in serious abuses, captured the city of Goma on November 20, 2012.

  • Human Rights Watch Submission to UK International Development Committee (IDC)
    Nov 16, 2012
    Human Rights Watch submission to the UK International Development Committee (IDC) inquiry on UK aid to Rwanda.
  • Relations with Rwanda must be urgently reviewed
    Nov 8, 2012
    The international development select committee (IDC) is questioning Andrew Mitchell on his controversial decision to disburse £8m of UK budget support to the government of Rwanda, in his final hours as international development secretary and just six weeks after deciding to withhold this support, following allegations of Rwandan military backing for the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
  • Rwanda: Eight-Year Sentence for Opposition Leader
    Oct 30, 2012

    The guilty verdict on October 30, 2012, in the case of opposition party leader Victoire Ingabire is the culmination of a flawed trial that included politically motivated charges. The High Court in Kigali found her guilty of conspiracy to undermine the established government and denying the genocide, and sentenced her to eight years in prison.
     

  • DR Congo: M23 Rebels Committing War Crimes
    Sep 11, 2012

    M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are responsible for widespread war crimes, including summary executions, rapes, and forced recruitment. Thirty-three of those executed were young men and boys who tried to escape the rebels’ ranks.

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