{{A retired American diplomat Richard Johnson has noted that HRW’s discourse on Rwanda is a threat to the country and to peace and stability in Central Africa.}}
He criticised Human Rights Watch (HRW) and said that what it does on Rwanda is not human rights advocacy, but rather political advocacy.
In the ‘The Travesty of Human Rights Watch on Rwanda’; Johnson said that HWR has become profoundly unscrupulous in both its means and its ends.
According to Johnson, HRW’s discourse on Rwanda over the past twenty years has been viscerally hostile to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) which defeated the genocidal regime in 1994, and systematically biased in favor of letting unrepentant former political forces back into Rwandan political life.
He called upon the HRW’s Board of Directors should hold Executive Director Kenneth Roth and the HRW personnel who cover Rwandan issues accountable for this travesty, which has dangerous implications for Western policy toward Rwanda and for the overall credibility of Western human rights advocacy.
“Donors to HRW should think seriously about what causes their money might serve. Western governments should be careful about following HRW advice, and courageous enough to challenge them publicly when need be,” reads the document in part.
Johnson explained that HRW’s decision-making process is not transparent and the air of sanctity around its perceived mission discourages public scrutiny of its policies and practices, and the degree of accountability of HRW to anyone is quite unclear.
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