SIGN THE PETITION urging the UN Security Council to speedily establish an international independent commission of inquiry to investigate the enforced disappearances in Rwanda

The three following organisations defending human rights in Rwanda are signatories of this petition,

The Centre for the Fight against Impunity and Injustice in Rwanda (CLIIR)

The International Network for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights in Rwanda (RIPRODHOR)

Foundation IBUKABOSE-RENGERABOSE - Memory and Justice for All

• Are seriously concerned about the deteriorating situation of human rights in Rwanda and deplore the complacency of the international community towards the strengthening of totalitarian politics of the Rwandan regime that has now resulted in the disappearance of tens of thousands Rwandan citizens in less than 6 months.

• First, the Rwandan government, through its Minister of Local Government, Mr. James Musoni, announced the disappearance of sixteen thousand (16,000) inhabitants of Ngororero District (Gisenyi), cynically claiming that the missing people in Ngororero might have joined the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is hard to imagine how such a large contingent of populations could cross the ultra-sensitive Rwandan-Congolese border and settle in the DRC without provoking reaction from indigenous communities in Kivu, countless NGOs working in the eastern Congo and the UN Mission in Congo - MONUSCO. The latter reported no recent influx of Rwandan populations in the DRC.

• Meanwhile, Rwandan Prison Services reported the alarming disappearance of thirty thousand (30,000) persons convicted of genocide and condemned to work in the public interest, known as “travaux d'intérêt general” (TIG).

• The US organizations and Human Rights Watch reported that they had received reports, stating that some victims of enforced disappearances were disappeared after being arrested by soldiers of the Rwandan Army vis Rwandan Defence Forces (RDF).

• In addition to the phenomenon of forced disappearances, forty bound corpses were discovered in the Rweru Lake, situated at the border between Rwanda and Burundi. They were carried in the said lake by the waters of the Akagera River which takes its source in and flows from Rwanda. These bodies showed marks of torture and may have been extrajudicially executed. After investigation, Burundi announced that the bodies of Lake Rweru were indeed from Rwanda.

The Rwandan government cannot pretend to ignore the identity of 16,000 of its citizens which, according to its own declaration, disappeared in Ngororero District; neither can it ignore the identity of 30,000 people condemned to work in the public interest - travaux d'intérêt général (TIG) - who disappeared while they were under its sole and exclusive responsibility. Indeed, it seems unlikely that 30,000 "tigistes" recorded and considered as dangerous killers can escape from their labour camps without the knowledge of prison services in a country where the security grid is legendary.

The petition organisers note that the total systematic impunity that the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – the ruling party – has continued to enjoy since 1990 is a blank guilt check and an encouragement to crime.

To put an end to the cycle of repeated violence and crimes that have led to several million deaths in Rwanda and other African countries of the Great Lakes over the past twenty years, the petitioners call on the Rwandan authorities to:

• Comply with the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core international human rights instruments.

• Shed light on the massive enforced disappearances reported in the petition stating the name, age, sex, city or hill where the missing persons originate from, as well as the date and circumstances of their disappearance.

The petitioners urge the United Nation Security Council, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the African Union, and the European Union:

• To put all necessary pressure, including economic sanction, on the Rwandan government until the rule of law in Rwanda is established and respected and the democratic principles are adhered to.

• To speedily establish an international independent commission of inquiry to investigate the enforced disappearances of tens of thousands of people in Rwanda during the period of January-October 2014 to establish the identity of the victims and the circumstances of their disappearance.

LIST OF THE ORGANISATIONS WHICH INITIATED THE PETITION

Centre for the Fight against Impunity and Injustice in Rwanda (CLIIR) : cliir.org@gmail.com

International Network for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights in Rwanda (RIPRODHOR): riprodhor@hotmail.com

IBUKABOSE-RENGERABOSE Memory and Justice for All Foundation:ibukabose@yahoo.fr

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