Rwanda: Human rights organisation forced to close

Last Friday, the leading Rwandese human rights organisation, La Ligue Rwandaise pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme (LIPRODHOR), closed its doors. All its employees are temporarily suspended, a suspension that will become permanent if donors are not found before March 2005. LIPRODHOR was the only independent human rights organisation in Rwanda that maintained human rights monitors at the provincial and district levels. The organisation's expected demise means that Rwandese, particularly those in rural areas, will no longer have an independent human rights monitor to either record or attempt to resolve their human rights complaints.