An updated country profile on Rwanda published by the Home Office highlights allegations of assassinations, repression and mysterious disappearances, despite claiming it’s safe
A Home Office document has highlighted allegations of assassinations, torture and mysterious disappearances in Rwanda – days after MPs voted it was a safe country.
The update, quietly published today, reveals hundreds of human rights abuses have been investigated in recent years. It also highlighted claims the Rwandan government uses draconian laws to create fear and stifle public opinion.
The report also cites concerns by human rights groups that opponents of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) have been “forced into exile or assassinated”. And it highlights concerns about “illegal arrests” of LGBT people.
The revised country information note was released after Rishi Sunak’s controversial Safety of Rwanda Bill passed into law. The legislation declares the east African nation is a safe place to send asylum seekers. It was pushed through by Mr Sunak after the Supreme Court ruled in November that it’s not. The Government hopes to start sending people there in July, the PM said.
The latest Home Office document lists a string of serious concerns about human rights in Rwanda – raising serious questions about the country’s safety. It references the findings of the Bertelsmann Stiftung’s Transformation Index (BTI), which highlighted the regime’s “strong authoritarian grip over the country”.
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The BTI said: “Detractors, particularly those within circles of power, are not tolerated, and many have either been targeted and forced into exile or assassinated. Repression has also been aimed at other forms of opposition, specifically non-RPF political adversaries, journalists and civil society activists.”
It went on: “There is minimal space for power-sharing, genuine political diversity, an independent and thriving civil society, or freedom of expression.” The report reveals Rwanda’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) received 1,879 allegations of abuses between July 2019 and June 2022. Of the 1,153 resolved cases, the NCHR found no abuse had occured in just 34 cases.
The document also highlights concerns by US-based Freedom House (FH) that opposition politician Venant Abayisenga was “forcibly disappeared or killed” after being cleared in a 2020 trial. And it pointed out that Human Rights Watch had documented 30 cases where activists and journalists had died, disappeared or been jailed from 2019 to 2022.
Among these was the “suspicious” death of investigative journalist John Williams Ntwal, the Home Office report says. FH accused the government of “banning and repressing any opposition group that could mount a serious challenge to it”.
A 2023 FH report – also quoted by the Home Office – said: ‘The government has a long history of repressing its political opponents, and members of opposition parties face the threat of disappearance, arbitrary arrest and detention, and assassination.”
The Home Office report also includes concerns from the Health Development Initiative (HDI) about the treatment of LGBT people in Rwanda. The HDI said: “There are still instances of illegal arrests especially when found in bars or streets and later released after a few days of detention and later realising that there is no case to be prosecuted.”
And the update points out the US State Department’s 2022 conclusion that Rwandan authorities “reportedly sometimes subjected prisoners to torture”. It gave the example of YouTubers Aimable Karasira and Dieudonne Niyonsenga, whose channel Ishema TV covers politics and human rights.
Following the publication of the updated country note, Natasha Tsangarides, associate director of advocacy at charity Freedom from Torture said: “We are repeatedly told that Rwanda is a safe third country.
“Yet the Government’s own report shows egregious examples of human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary detention, and harsh crackdowns on its LBGTQ+ community. Only recently, the Supreme Court unanimously found this scheme to be unlawful and now, even the Home Office has acknowledged the serious human rights violations in Rwanda.”
The Home Office said the latest report is an update of a January country note that was put before MPs before the legislation was voted through.
A government spokesperson said: “The Rwanda Country Information Note published on Monday contains only very minor changes from previously published versions.We have proven time and again that Rwanda is a safe country, most recently with our landmark Safety of Rwanda Act, and we remain confident in the country’s strong and successful track record in resettling people, hosting more than 130,000 refugees and asylum seekers.”
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