Rwanda: Rwanda: Parliament Seeks to Abolish Rights Group

For Immediate Release:

Rwanda: Parliament Seeks to Abolish Rights Group

(New York, July 2, 2004) -- The Rwandan government should reject a
parliamentary request to dissolve one of the country's leading human
rights groups unfairly accused by a parliamentary commission of
harboring genocidal ideas, Human Rights Watch said today.

After three days of debate, the Rwandan parliament on Wednesday asked
the government to dissolve the League for the Promotion and Defense of
Human Rights (Ligue Rwandaise pour la promotion et la défense des droits

de l'homme, or Liprodhor) and four other civil society organizations
because they allegedly supported genocidal ideas. The action was
recommended by a parliamentary commission that also called for the
arrest of leaders of the organizations.

"Dissolving Liprodhor would call into question the Rwandan government's
commitment to such basic human rights as freedom of expression and
association," said Alison Des Forges, senior adviser for the Africa
Division of Human Rights Watch.

During the parliamentary debate, the commission made sweeping and
unproven accusations against Liprodhor and the other organizations,
including a rural association for improving agricultural output and an
association of widows whose husbands were killed during the 1997-99
uprising in northern Rwanda.

The commission interpreted "genocidal ideas," prohibited by law in
Rwanda, so broadly as to include even dissent from government plans for
consolidating land holdings.

"Under such a broad interpretation, any opposition to the government can

be labeled 'a genocide ideology' and its proponents can be severely
punished," Des Forges said.

The parliamentary commission, established following the late 2003
killing of several survivors of the 1994 genocide, gathered information
from local officials and others in about three-quarters of the country.
It concluded that a "genocide ideology" was widespread, found in six of
the Rwanda's 12 provinces, at the national university, in a number of
secondary schools and in many churches. One parliamentarian even alleged

during debate that genocidal ideas had been found among survivors of the

genocide, a statement that drew derision from other parliamentarians.

Information presented during the parliamentary debate this week included

a number of inaccuracies, but Liprodhor had no opportunity to correct
errors or to respond to allegations, neither during the time the
commission gathered information nor during the debate itself.

The commission also called for action against several international
nongovernmental organizations active in Rwanda, including Care
International, Trocaire, 11.11.11 and Norwegian People's Aid. It
alleged-in some cases wrongly-that these international organizations
supported local groups labeled by the commission as having a "genocide
ideology."

The commission and parliamentarians also castigated the Dutch government

for aiding organizations said to have a "genocide ideology." The Dutch
government, a generous donor to both the Rwandan government and to a
number of civil society organizations, was scheduled on Friday to
discuss further assistance to Rwanda.

The commission criticized a number of churches and religious leaders for

harboring genocidal ideas and recommended the establishment of a "forum"

to govern religious activities. A similar forum, dominated by the
Rwandan Patriotic Front, already supervises the conduct of political
parties, which are higher restricted in terms of their opportunities for

action.

This is the second time that a parliamentary commission has proposed
eliminating organizations. Last year a commission recommended ending the

Democratic Republican Movement (MDR), the one party then capable of
seriously contesting the Rwanda Patriotic Front in the upcoming national

elections.

For more information, please contact:
In Buffalo, Alison Des Forges: +1-716-881-2758
In Brussels, Stephan Van Praet: +322-732-2009
In London, Urmi Shah: +44-207-713-2788