Human rights come with responsibilities

Editor, I wish to comment on Sunny Ntayombya’s article, “Does UN’s Maina Kiai want to turn Kigali into Kiev?” published in The New Times on January 29. I think we should be careful here: There’s a thin line between declaring one absolutist and sounding like one yourself. While Mr. Kiai’s findings may not be music to our collective Rwandan ears, they were not pulled out of thin air – someone somewhere might be disgruntled. It might do us some good to listen as opposed to simply being dismissive. Eugene, Rwanda ****************** That’s true enough, Eugene. But publishing “findings” based on a clearly perfunctory effort that does not take into account the Government of Rwanda’s observations on your claims and that leave out the context specific to Rwanda’s recent history does not help Mr. Kiai’s cause with many Rwandans. Such a one-dimensional process ensures that any recommendations he makes will find little traction with those expected to implement them. And so the question then arises: why did he choose to proceed in a way that would be seen as unnecessarily antagonistic when it is the Government itself that invited him to undertake the mission? We are therefore left to wonder whether his intention was to assist the country identify possible improvements in the areas of freedom of association and the right to peaceful assembly, or whether it was in fact to antagonise and score points with his friends at Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other similar self-anointed arbiters of good human rights practices. Mr. Kiai’s position validates President Paul Kagame’s observation recently in his interview with NTV Kenya’s Linus Kaikai that “critics don’t have to be accountable to anybody; they just criticise”. Mwene Kalinda, Rwanda ****************** If someone tries to analyse and understand the report of Mr. Kiai, you will find that what he says is not quite different from what NGOs like Human Rights Watch and individuals in opposition are saying or criticising. So, according to my analysis, Mr. Kiai had a pre-determined mind set of the content to put in his report before he left Washington to Rwanda. Next time we must be able know people like Kiai, who come with a hidden agenda. There is nothing new in his report because what he did is like he copied and pasted different reports of Human Rights Watch and different declarations of opposition political parties who are operating outside the country (in France, Belgium, South Africa etc.). This report comes after the report of UN Group of Experts who also are wrongly accusing the Government of Rwanda. So, it is not by accident that two reports which condemn Rwanda are produced simultaneously – there is someone behind and there is a hidden agenda. Kumar, Rwanda

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Human rights come with responsibilities