As yet, the Commission has not been in existence long enough to have established a considerable record of activities. The commissioners began by taking one month of training at the University of Strasbourg and then dealt with questions of finance, logistics and staff recruitment. In October, the Commission hosted a meeting of representatives of similar commissions from Uganda, Canada, Ghana and Burundi. The Special Representative for Rwanda of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights attended as did representatives of local and international non-governmental organizations. During September and October, Commissioners or staff met with Rwandans in nine of the twelve prefectures of the country, seeking their opinions on priorities to be addressed by the Commission. Those consulted included officials and others with links to the state as well as representatives of local non-governmental organizations.

By the end of 1999, the Commission had received an unspecified number of complaints but had not yet taken public action on any of them. Among the complaints received were two brought to its attention by Human Rights Watch. In the first case, a well-respected businessman had been removed from his place of business in central Kigali on August 31, 1999 and was being held at the Department of Military Intelligence (DMI). In October 1999, Human Rights Watch researchers visited the DMI to ask for information on the case. After initially replying that the case was unknown to the DMI, one of its officers acknowledged that the person in question was held there. Human Rights Watch discussed the case with the president of the Commission which then apparently brought pressure privately on the DMI to have the person transferred to the military prosecutor's office. He is currently in military prison, openly but illegally detained. His lawyer has been refused access to his file.186
In a second case, a young woman survivor of the genocide was taken under duress from her home by a current or former soldier of the Rwandan Patriotic Army. Apparently acting in concert with persons who wished to take control of a small church in which the young woman played an important role, the soldier or former soldier threatened to beat and imprison the young woman. When Human Rights Watch researchers learned of the case, located the young woman, and tried to secure her release, her captor threatened them as well. Making use of support from friends and colleagues at the national radio and in the national police, the captor was able to detain the young woman for a day before interventions by others finally secured her release. The young woman has submitted a written complaint to the Commission.187