• Human Rights in Rwanda

    Rwanda continues to make progress on development, but this has not been accompanied by greater respect for political and civil liberties. Political space and free speech remain severely restricted following the 2010 elections. Critics of the government, including opposition politicians and journalists, are frequently threatened, and several have been arrested and prosecuted for expressing their opinions. Government hostility towards human rights defenders has severely limited the scope for Rwandan civil society organizations to report on human rights violations. Community-based gacaca courts have almost finished trying a huge caseload of genocide-related cases. Future cases are expected to be handled by the conventional courts. Despite a number of legal reforms, concerns about unfair trials remain, especially in politically sensitive cases.

  • Displaced people cross the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) into Rwanda, as seen from Gisenyi, November 20, 2012, as M23 rebels advance on Goma.
    © 2012 Reuters
    DR Congo: US Should Urge Rwanda to End M23 Support

    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.

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Rwanda

  • 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.

  • Letter to World Bank Vice President for Africa On Rwanda
    Sep 5, 2012

    I am writing to urge the World Bank to review its programing in Rwanda in light of detailed evidence of human rights abuses by the Rwandan government and the Rwandan military’s support for armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) responsible for serious human rights violations.

  • Rwanda is hindering justice for Congo's atrocity victims
    Jul 11, 2012

    The sentencing on Tuesday of Thomas Lubanga, a rebel leader from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was a rare victory for Congolese victims of atrocities. There have been few occasions during my 13 years of documenting abuses in Congo by Lubanga and others in which justice was done. This was one of those moments.

  • DR Congo: Rwanda Should Stop Aiding War Crimes Suspect
    Jun 3, 2012
    Rwandan military officials have been arming and supporting the mutiny in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of Gen. Bosco Ntaganda, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
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