Submission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI)

May 31, 2024

Dear Ms. Cynthia Radert,

Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by the lack of independence in the work of Rwanda’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR, or “the Commission”) and its failure to fulfil its human rights protection mandate. An analysis of the NCHR’s work indicates that it does not comply fully with the Principles relating to the Status of National Institutions (the Paris Principles) and, in light of the many concerns detailed in this submission, Human Rights Watch recommends that the Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA) reconsider the NCHR’s A status during its upcoming review.

1. Scope of the Submission

Although the NCHR’s mandate includes both promotion and protection components, this submission focuses on the NCHR’s protection work regarding civil and political rights violations, which Human Rights Watch has documented in Rwanda. It also assesses the work of the NCHR as the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM).[1]

The submission evaluates the NCHR’s protection work by analyzing its reports since October 2018, when the SCA extended the Commission’s A status.

Focusing primarily on the period ranging from October 2018 to date, some of the NCHR’s activities prior to October 2018 are also included as background information in light of the serious breaches of the Paris Principles and human rights violations they constitute. The submission does not cover NCHR’s activities relating to human rights promotion, such as training and seminars.

2. Background

Since 2018, the NCHR has proven unwilling or unable to report on human rights violations, especially civil and political rights violations, and on politically sensitive cases. Moreover, the NCHR has also, at times, produced reports and given statements that cover up abuse in which Rwandan state agents were implicated or committed human rights violations themselves.

The Commission’s Leadership

On October 20, 2023, the cabinet appointed Providence Umurungi as the new NCHR chairperson, and she was sworn in on November 6, 2023, replacing Marie-Claire Mukasine, who had led the institution since July 2020.[2] Prior to Mukasine, Madeleine Nirere had been leading the Commission since 2012.

As part of Rwanda’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed concern that members of the NCHR are selected by a committee appointed by the President and indicated that Rwanda should guarantee that the selection process for NCHR members is transparent and independent.[3] The law governing the Commission states that “The Cabinet submits to the Senate for approval candidate Commissioners before their appointment by a Presidential Order.”[4]

The Paris Principles state that a national human rights institution shall “develop relations with the non-governmental organizations devoted to promoting and protecting human rights.” Human Rights Watch staff have repeatedly sought to meet with the chairperson of the Commission during visits to Kigali between June 2022 and May 2024, but the Commission’s staff responded to these requests saying they were unavailable or failed to respond, and did not respond to Human Rights Watch’s proposals to set up meetings at a later date convenient for them.[5] The Commission did not respond to Human Rights Watch letters on February 1, 2019, seeking information on its investigation into the Kiziba refugee camp killings (see below p. 4) and on December 23, 2019, on its monitoring and reporting on abuses and conditions at the Gikondo transit center (see p. 11).

The NCHR’s Response to Human Rights Watch’s 2017 Report on Extrajudicial Executions

Although the events detailed in this section took place prior to the reporting period, Human Rights Watch considers the Commission’s involvement in covering up human rights violations relevant and recommends that the SCA take them into consideration when reviewing the NCHR’s record.

In a report published in 2017, Human Rights Watch documented the summary killings of at least 37 suspected petty offenders by state security forces in what appeared to be a broader attempt to spread fear and dissuade any resistance to government orders.[6] Instead of engaging with Human Rights Watch’s findings and investigating the documented cases, the Commission subsequently distorted the conclusions during a news conference and published a report misrepresenting the research.[7] The NCHR acted as a party to cover up serious rights violations and compounded the injustice and abuse suffered by the victims’ families. A France 24 investigation found numerous discrepancies in the NCHR report and corroborated four cases of summary executions documented by Human Rights Watch.[8] Additionally, Rwandan government officials coerced victims’ family members to present false information about what happened to their loved ones.[9]

Misleading statements and failure to investigate credible reports of human rights violations point to the Commission’s lack of independence.

3. The NCHR’s Protection Work

The NCHR publishes annual activity and thematic reports on its protection and monitoring work. The reports only provide a partial picture of the human rights reality in Rwanda, pointing to the NCHR’s inability to cover key civil and political rights issues. Human rights violations relating to the targeting of critics, real or perceived, arbitrary detention, torture, ill-treatment, extrajudicial executions, and enforced disappearances are mostly ignored. Moreover, emblematic cases that were covered by international human rights organizations and media, such as those of Paul Rusesabagina or Kizito Mihigo, are not mentioned.

In 2017, the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern that there had been no mention of arbitrary detention in military facilities in the NCHR’s annual reports for years despite allegations from formerly detained individuals.[10] As part of its protection mandate, the NCHR is to “examine human rights violations in Rwanda committed by public or private organs, associations, non-governmental organizations, persons abusing their powers, a group of persons or individuals.”[11] Yet, public organs, in particular security forces, which have been involved in abuses in Rwanda, are rarely if ever identified as perpetrators across all reports examined in this submission.

In its July 2020 submission to the 3rd cycle of the UPR of Rwanda, the Commission omits most of the grave human rights violations detailed in this report, focusing primarily on reducing overcrowding in prisons, and urging the government to put in place alternative measures to imprisonment and to “eradicate the problem of street children.”[12]

The Commission’s 2022–2023 annual report concludes that “detainees are not subjected to torture or other physical or psychological harm.”[13] The Commission came to the same conclusion that there were no reports of torture in its 2021-2022, 2020-2021, 2019-2020, 2018-2019, and 2017-2018 annual reports. Yet Human Rights Watch research found that Rwandan officials subjected detainees to ill-treatment and torture during this time period.[14] Furthermore, in 2023, the government charged and put on trial 18 prison officials and prisoners, including a prison director, for offenses including murder and torture, carried out in Rubavu prison between 2019 and 2022.[15] During the trial, which took place from October 2023 to April 2024, prisoners gave evidence about the defendants’ involvement in torture practices, which at times led to the death of detainees. On April 5, 2024, prison director Innocent Kayumba was found guilty of overseeing torture that caused the death of several detainees, contradicting the NCHR’s findings.[16]

In 2019, the Commission published the findings[17] of its investigation into the killings of at least 12 people in February 2018, when security forces fired live ammunition on refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who were protesting food ration cuts outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Karongi district.[18] The Commission found that the police “had used all peaceful and less harmful means to contain the situation,” adding that “live ammunition was used as the last resort after [a] violent and organized attack was launched by a group of demonstrators against police.”[19] The Commission’s findings contradicted independent accounts that Rwandan police used excessive force, including by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.[20] The Commission did not respond to a February 1, 2019 letter from Human Rights Watch seeking information about its findings, one year after the events.

1. 2022 – 2023 Annual Activity Report

In its annual report, the NCHR reported that it met with the members of the UN Sub-committee on the Prevention of Torture (SPT).[21] In 2017, the SPT was forced to suspend and later (for the first time ever) cancel its visit to Rwanda, citing obstruction by the authorities and fear of reprisals against interviewees.[22] To the best of Human Rights Watch’s knowledge, it has not resumed its visit to Rwanda.

During the reporting period, the Commission said it carried out visits to 14 prisons, 100 police cells, 28 temporary detention centers, and 3 rehabilitation centers.[23] It reported overcrowding and detainees remaining incarcerated after completing their sentence, but reported that there was no torture carried out in prisons and that detainees were not subjected to degrading or ill-treatment.[24]

However, journalist Dieudonné Niyonsenga, also known as “Cyuma Hassan,” told a court in Kigali on January 10, 2024, that he was detained in a “hole” that often fills with water, without access to light, and frequently beaten.[25] According to court transcripts and Voice of America’s reporting, he stated his hearing and eyesight had become impaired due to his three-year long detention in “inhuman” conditions and beatings.[26]

The report also does not address the suspicious death of investigative journalist John Williams Ntwali in January 2023, and the government’s failure to provide a credible and transparent accounting of the circumstances of his death.[27] It is also silent on the politicized prosecutions in Rwanda, such as the case of Théophile Ntirutwa, a member of the unregistered Forces Démocratiques Unifiées (FDU)-Inkingi opposition party (now known as Dalfa-Umurinzi), who was convicted to seven years in prison for “spreading false information or harmful propaganda with intent to cause a hostile international opinion against [the] Rwandan Government.” This criminal offense is incompatible with Rwanda’s regional and international human rights obligations, in particular free speech.[28]

Finally, the Commission also failed to raise concerns about the legal framework governing transit centers and practices of arbitrary detention and ill-treatment extensively documented by Human Rights Watch, which violate several international and regional treaties ratified by Rwanda.[29]

2. July 2021 – June 2022 Annual Activity Report

The NCHR’s overview of the human rights landscape in its report covering events going from July 2021 to June 2022, ignores major cases and patterns of abuse during that period.[30]

Torture and Ill-Treatment in Detention in Prisons

As part of its mandate to prevent torture, the Commission monitored detention facilities, including the Nyarugenge prison, where allegations of abuse emerged in 2022.[31] While it acknowledged that overcrowding in correctional facilities affects detainees’ welfare, it found that “the rights of the incarcerated persons are respected,” including the “right to justice, well-being and freedom from torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”[32]

The Commission failed to investigate and report on the case of detained YouTube commentator Aimable Karasira, who informed a Rwandan court on May 30, 2022, that Nyarugenge prison authorities tortured him, including through sleep deprivation and beatings.[33] Karasira indicated that YouTube journalist Niyonsenga and Christopher Kayumba, The Chronicles newspaper’s former editor, were subjected to the same treatment by prison authorities. The NCHR’s report further indicates that detainees’ right to health is ensured, stating that “All sick persons are appropriately treated.”[34] However, Karasira and his lawyer told the court that he had been denied needed medical treatment in prison.[35] Additionally, both Karasira and Niyonsenga have accused prison authorities of intercepting privileged communications between them and their lawyers, in violation of their due process rights.

Freedom of Speech and Association

The report does not examine the protection of the rights to freedom of expression and to freedom of association. In 2021 and 2022, Rwandan judicial authorities pursued politically motivated prosecutions against journalists, commentators, and political opponents based on their speech and opinions.[36] These individuals include Niyonsenga and Karasira, as well as YouTube commentator Yvonne Idamange, who was convicted of state security charges after a trial held behind closed doors and handed a 17-year sentence on appeal.[37] The opaque nature of her trial and disproportionate sentence appear to have been designed to intimidate those expressing critical views.[38]

The report further fails to mention how, in October 2021, Rwandan authorities arrested nine people apparently in relation to “Ingabire Day,” an event organized by the unregistered opposition party Dalfa-Umurinzi, to discuss sensitive topics, including political repression in Rwanda. The charges brought against seven opposition members and a journalist include “publication of rumours intended to cause uprising or unrest among the population” and are based on the group’s plans to peacefully campaign and highlight human rights issues in Rwanda.[39]

Finally, the report does not mention the case of Paul Rusesabagina, a critic of the Rwandan government whose conviction in September 2021, that followed an enforced disappearance and a flawed trial, was emblematic of the lengths the government is willing to go to target critics, even beyond the country’s borders.[40]

3. July 2020 – June 2021 Annual Activity and Covid-19 Pandemic Measures Reports

This section covers findings presented in the annual July 2020 – June 2021 report and in the Commission’s report on rights issues relating to Covid-19 measures, covering a period going from March to October 2020.[41]

Freedom of Expression

The annual activity report only deals with the right to freedom of expression in its section dedicated to the Covid-19 lockdown, arguing that “the right to freedom of expression during the total lock down program was respected.”[42]

In 2020, Human Rights Watch documented how Rwandan authorities threatened, arrested, or prosecuted at least eight people reporting on Covid-19 restrictions.[43] Those included Valentin Muhirwa, David Byiringiro, Théoneste Nsengimana, and Niyonsenga, all named in both reports.[44] The Commission said in its annual report that “the arrests of those journalists had nothing to do with the violation of their right to freedom of expression.”[45] It presents a similar conclusion in the Covid-19 measures report, stating that the arrest “was not a violation of freedom of expression [as] they were accused of violating COVID-19 Pandemic rules and/or committing other offenses.”[46] Despite investigating Niyonsenga’s case, the Commission failed to note due process violations, torture allegations, and the fact that he was initially convicted of a crime that no longer exists in the Penal Code.[47] Both reports omit arrested individuals’ work exposing abuse. Human Rights Watch research found that the circumstances of their arrest appeared retaliatory, as they reported allegations of misconduct by security forces enforcing Covid-19 restrictions, including allegations of rape by soldiers.[48]

The annual report mentions charges of sexual abuse brought by the military prosecution against soldiers enforcing sanitary restrictions.[49] It also states that “local authorities and security agents […] resorted to harassment as they were ensuring the implementation of COVID-19 measures respect.”[50] This appears to reinforce the allegations of abuse exposed by the journalists, and yet the NCHR did not consider that the arrests may have violated their freedom of expression.

The annual report also fails to mention the case of poet Innocent Bahati, who was reported missing on February 9, 2021.[51] His criticism of government policies, and the pattern of mysterious disappearances of government critics in Rwanda, constitute credible grounds to consider his disappearance as suspicious.

Prison and Detention

The Commission stated having visited detention facilities as part of its NPM mandate, including transit centers, where Human Rights Watch previously documented abuse.[52] It acknowledges that the ministerial order governing transit centers is based on a provision that is too broad with regard to who can be detained in those facilities, but fails to address the fact that individuals detained there are held without due process or judicial oversight.[53] This contradicts findings by Human Rights Watch and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.[54] The Commission raises concerns about poor infrastructure and equipment as well as a lack of separation between children and adults in certain centers, but fails to address the severe ill-treatments detainees face and the fact that children are detained in conditions well below standards required by Rwandan and international law.[55]

The Commission did not investigate or report on how, in the months leading to the June 2021 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held in Kigali, Rwandan authorities rounded up and arbitrarily detained marginalized communities members, including over a dozen gay and transgender people, sex workers, and street children in the Gikondo transit center.[56] Former detainees talked to Human Rights Watch about the lack of adequate food, water, and health care and indicated having been subjected to beatings, with gay and transgender people facing more frequent beatings. Additionally, none of the people Human Rights Watch interviewed at the time were formally charged with any criminal offense and none saw a prosecutor, judge, or lawyer before or during their detention.[57]

Finally, based on its monitoring visits in 14 prisons and 61 Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB)  cells, the report states that “the Commission found no torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in prisons.”[58] It comes to the same conclusion regarding police cells, although it acknowledges that some detainees are interrogated without a lawyer present.[59] The Commission acknowledges some challenges facing detainees in prisons, including overcrowding and inadequate infrastructure, but failed to investigate credible reports of torture and ill-treatment.[60] Human Rights Watch received regular allegations of torture during this time period and, in 2023, two former prisoners spoke publicly and alleged being tortured in December 2020 in Rubavu prison.[61]

4. July 2019 – June 2020 Annual Activity Report

Political Space

The 2019-2020 annual report dedicates a section to senatorial elections which, it argues, “were conducted in a transparent, free and peaceful manner.”[62] The report states that all candidates were able to participate and that observers and journalists “did their jobs freely”.[63] Yet, the report omits to mention how during the reporting period, members of the unregistered Dalfa-Umurinzi opposition party were reported missing or found dead in suspicious circumstances. In September 2019, the party’s national coordinator, Syldio Dusabumuremyi, was stabbed to death.[64] Eugène Ndereyimana, also a member of FDU-Inkingi, was reported missing on July 15.[65] Despite announcing investigations, Rwandan authorities did not provide a transparent accounting of what happened to either individual nor did they ensure accountability. In a trial concluded on January 23, 2020, seven members of the party were convicted of charges related to complicity with an irregular armed force, falling within a pattern of judicial harassment of political opposition.[66] During the trial, several defendants reported being tortured and forced to confess to crimes.[67]

Freedom of Speech

The report also fails to mention the suspicious death of singer and activist Kizito Mihigo, despite significant national and international coverage on his case and calls for an independent and transparent investigation.[68] On February 17, 2020, Rwandan police announced that Mihigo had been found dead in his cell at the Remera Police Station in Kigali in what they alleged was a suicide. Shortly before his death, Mihigo had told contacts that he had been threatened and asked to deliver a false testimony against members of the opposition, and that he feared for his safety. He was arrested while attempting to flee the country.[69] The Revised United Nations Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (the Minnesota Protocol), provides that there is a general presumption of state responsibility for a death in custody, unless proven otherwise, and underlines that this is particularly so in cases “where the deceased was, prior to his or her death, a political opponent of the government or a human rights defender; was known to be suffering from mental health issues; or committed suicide in unexplained circumstances.”[70]

Prison and Detention

From January to June 2020, the Commission carried out monitoring visits to 12 prisons and 109 RIB stations custodies.[71] It concluded that its investigation revealed no cases of torture or ill-treatment, in contradiction with statements made by detainees in court during the period under review and the 2023-2024 trial of prison officials.

The report states that, based on monitoring activities in 27 transit centers, including the Gikondo center, “rights of detainees are respected, especially in terms of their well-being.”[72] However, Human Rights Watch documented cases of arbitrary detention at the Gikondo center as well as harsh and inhumane conditions, particularly for children.[73] Human Rights Watch interviewed 30 formerly detained children in 2019 and found that they were arbitrarily detained in degrading conditions and often subjected to beatings, with little to no access to legal representation.

After a July 2019 visit to Gikondo, the Commission raised concerns about children whose parents were never informed of their detention, children who should be at school, breastfeeding mothers separated from their babies, and drug-using detainees who should be transferred for medical care. In addition, it stated that it recommended that Gikondo transit center’s authorities ensure that detainees are properly screened and either transferred to rehabilitation centers, prosecuted, or released without exceeding the timeframe required by Rwandan law.[74] However, it failed to address the full scope and extent of the abuse at transit centers in Rwanda.

5. July 2018 – June 2019 Annual Activity Report

Despite dedicating specific sections to fundamental freedoms, this report only lays out the legal framework surrounding them, without reporting on human rights violations.[75]

Prison and Detention

The section dedicated to the “right to liberty and human security,” covers arbitrary arrests and detention.[76] It reported that “there is still a problem” with people detained under expired statements of arrest, and reported some cases of people detained without being informed of the charges against them, but fails to recognize the severity and scope of violations to the right to a fair trial and due process.[77] Human Rights Watch has previously found that the arbitrary way in which some individuals are arrested is consistent with the absence of due process once they are detained.[78]

The report mentions some cases where detainees filed cases against “Police Officers, Prosecutors and Prisons’ staff for unlawful detention,” concluding that the “existence of Cases in which detained persons file actions on illegal detention, is a sign that any illegally detained person in Rwanda can file action against the person who detained him/her.”[79] Little information is provided on the cases mentioned, which does not allow for a full assessment of the respect of the prisoners’ rights and no information is provided on cases where victims did not file a legal complaint. The mere fact that some cases are reported does not mean the issue of arbitrary or unlawful detention is resolved.

Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly

According to the NCHR’s findings, in Rwanda “the right to freedom of association is exercised by non-governmental organizations, associations, cooperatives, trade unions, political organizations and religious denominations.”[80] The report goes on to list associations and indicates the existence of 11 “recognized” political parties, without referring to the restrictions they may face in operating or the obstacles several opposition parties face in registering.[81] The sole existence of organizations is not sufficient to determine that freedom of association is respected in Rwanda, as many are unable to work on human rights or politically sensitive issues. Independent civil society and opposition have been weakened following years of state intimidation and still cannot operate freely.[82]

Finally, the report does not mention suspicious cases of disappearances or deaths of members of the opposition. FDU-Inkingi member Anselme Mutuyimana was found dead in March 2019 with signs consistent with strangulation.[83] On the night of October 7, 2018, Rwandan opposition leader Boniface Twagirimana is said to have “disappeared” from his prison cell in Mpanga in southern Rwanda.[84] Twagirimana was the deputy leader of the FDU-Inkingi party. He and Mutuyimana had been charged alongside several other party members with state security offenses after the elections in 2017.[85]

In light of the many concerns described in this submission, Human Rights Watch urges the SCA to reconsider the NCHR’s A status until it performs its role as an independent institution working for the effective protection and promotion of human rights in Rwanda.

Yours sincerely,

Human Rights Watch