Chairperson of steering committee for UPR report
Cases- Location of case in SG report
- 2011-057-002
- Relevant SG report
- Year of the report
- 2011
- From Country
- Country Geolocation
Latitude: -1.940278
Longitude: 29.873888
- Country Geolocation (linked Cases)
- Rwanda
- From Region
- UN body that raised the case prior to the SG report
- UN Special Procedures: Thematic
- Dates of prior UN action
- 18 March 2011
- Type of record
- Unnamed individual/group/organization
- Was the victim a foreign national?
- No
- Was the victim a minor?
- No
- Individual's/organization's activity
Chairperson of NGO steering committee for UPR report
- Type of rights defended
- Unclear in SG Report
- Was the victim a civil servant, member of the security forces or of the judiciary?
- No
- Reported trigger of reprisal
Pressure on civil society organisations to retract their support in supporting a civil society report for the Universal Periodic Review of Rwanda.
- Engagement with UN body
- UN Human Rights Council: UPR
- Dates of engagement
- 5 July 2010
- Type of attempted engagement
- Submission of information to UN
- Dates of mentioned reprisals
- September 2010
- Reprisal information
It is alleged that, in September 2010, the Rwandan section of the Human Rights League of the Great Lakes was targeted by a smear campaign led by some of the civil society organizations that had participated in the training sessions relating to the preparation of a civil society report as part of the universal periodic review process. These organizations reportedly disassociated themselves from the training and the report produced, stating that they had been falsely included in the report with the summary of the stakeholder’s information to be submitted for the review. It is reported that these organizations did so as a result of the pressure on them to retract their support from the above-mentioned initiative. Following the smear campaign, Mr. Nyilibakwe and the chairperson of the steering committee fled the country after receiving threats against themselves and their families.
- Types of reprisals suffered
- Defamation / Defamation campaign
- Family/friends/acquaintances targeted
- Threats/Intimidations (incl. "fear of reprisal")
- Alleged/likely perpetrators
- Both state and non-state actors
- Was the reprisal based on new legislation?
- No
- Does the report make general comment about country’s environment for engagement with UN?
- No
- Further case development
At the time of completion of the present report, the Government of Rwanda had not replied to this communication.
- Is the country cited for a "pattern of reprisal" in the context of this case?
- No
- Is a pattern of reprisals mentioned otherwise in the context of this case?
- No
- Does the report cite "self-censorship" as an issue in the context of this case?
- No
- How many times has the case been followed up in subsequent SG reports?
- 0