Does UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture serve Western interests?

Editor, Refer to the letter titled, UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture is playing to the gallery (The New Times, October 25). We would like to remind Mwene Kalinda that State parties (including Rwanda ) to the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel , Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, have the following obligations to facilitate the visits of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture: - To provide the Subcommittee with all necessary information, including all documentation that it requires; - To grant it unhindered access to all places under its jurisdiction where people are or may be deprived of their liberty; - To grant it the opportunity to have private interviews with persons deprived of their liberty. In case those obligations are not met with the State party/state member being visited, the said Subcommittee may suspend or terminate its visit, and that is what the UN Subcommittee did in Rwanda. We do not have to argue on this. However, there is a possibility that the UN Subcommittee’s visit may resume after conclusive consultations with Rwandan concerned authorities, and when the Subcommittee is fully satisfied that it has received appropriate assurances, supported by practical measures and methodologies, that no further obstacles will be encountered in fulfilling its mandate. So let us be hopeful that Rwanda will maintain good collaboration with the Subcommittee and allow it to resume its visit, because Rwanda has no gain/interest in engaging itself in a stand-off with this UN body. John Peter Two faulty claims right there, John Peter. Rwanda has integrity to gain from turning her back against arrogant UN bodies that continue to exhibit their not so subtle partiality in favour of their Western sponsors to whom they fail to point their fingers when it comes to their own human rights violations and crimes against humanity. Which brings me to my second evaluation of your faulty analysis. Based on the West’s past and present crimes cited above, the UN is no longer in a position to expect any nation to facilitate and promote an environment where its NGO’s can “work” with such a laughable track record! Simple as that. Ali Rukariza

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Does UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture serve Western interests?