July 6, 2009

July 6, 2009

So today, Cedy came with us in a cab to St. Paul’s and we had a heartwrenching goodbye before we both realized that we’d see each other later that day for his meeting with Sam and Valerie. So we both hugged, shrugged, and I boarded the bus to head to the LIPRODHOR office to talk to the organization president.

LIPRODHOR is a Rwandan human rights organization that has been condemned by the government on numerous occasions. The government sees them as an opposing political party, and often tells people that they’re promoting divisionism and genocide. However, with their collective energy and the help of the international community, they avoided being dissolved.

Gertrude, the woman who spoke to us, told us that the government really used the word, ‘genocide,’ as a tool to silence people. Everyone is so afraid of the word that if they believe an organization is linked to it, it will be socially as well as politically condemned. Because a law has been passed to punish genocide ideology, groups can be punished for expressing their ideas, even if it has nothing to do with divisionism or genocide. It’s an infringement on their human rights of freedom of speech and expression.

What really struck me was the fact that she said their phone calls, texts, and emails were tracked by the government, and for a moment, it really brought me back to the presidency of George W. Bush and his controversial act of tapping communication lines. Apparently in Rwanda, a law was passed in December that allowed the tracking of the aforementioned communication lines. Gertrude herself said that her phone and emails were tracked everyday. This certainly violates the human right of privacy. Talking freely is not something that is often done in Rwanda.

We talked to Jesse about this freedom of speech thing, and he said that he’d heard about certain disappearances, but he could confirm nothing, as many of these reports came from unreliable sources. Taryn mentioned that Flo, one of our neighbours, had spoken to her a bit about his views of the country. He believes that it’s all a façade and that the government is brainwashing the people, and all of the white muzungu only see the exterior of Rwanda and not the inner workings. For me, it’s very difficult to say.

We spoke to Gertrude about Ngando, which is basically a government-run class teaching, ‘history,’ to children, and she said that they select people to go there to be brainwashed. This is 110% the opposite of what we heard when we were in workshop with the Rwandan youth. Rose had said that she thought it was a great experience, and was glad that they were learning the truth for once. It was interesting getting a view that was not all positive. Youth are much easier to convince than adults, and it seems like they were all just taught from a young age the visions of the RPF. It makes sense, because they were so scarred by the genocide, that they’d listen well to the government that, ‘liberated,’ them. Personally, any government that is all aligned with one political party makes me a bit nervous.

Also, watching the Liberation Day ceremony, I didn’t really think anything too odd, although it seemed like a very military ceremony. Looking back on the photos, though, it looked a little dangerous. Granted, I like that their military is intervening in Darfur, but almost ALL of the photos I’ve seen of the Amahoro Stadium that day were of armed soldiers and a wild crowd. Hmm. Just an observer. Edy also got shoved by a police officer in the street after the ceremony.

LIPRODHOR apparently has trouble publishing some of their human rights reports. There are things the government does not want the people to know. This includes—and this is new information to me—the detention centre in Gikondo. The government will not allow anyone to visit or see this facility.

Furthermore, Jesse told me that today the Human Rights Watch had gotten their hands on a bill that had been passed in the Rwandan House that had very controversial matierial in it, including sterilizing people who had a low learning capacity so they wouldn’t carry on their genes—THIS IS HUGE. We were told briefly about this in our LIPRODHOR meeting, and everyone was absolutely disgusted. I have to go onto the Human Rights Watch site and find out that it is they learned.

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UPDATE: The Reproductive Health Bill (which HAS been passed in the House, but the Senate sent it back to the House for changes) will require mandatory HIV/AIDS testing for all individuals getting married. They will need to show their certificate before marriage will be granted. Next, married individuals will be required to take HIV/AIDS testing at the request of their spouse. Third, if a physician deems it imperative for a child or incapacitated person to be tested for HIV/AIDS, the physician may conduct the test without seeking consent and may show the result to the parent, guardian, or care provider.

ADDITIONALLY!!! The Rwandan Government will be obligated to, “suspend fertility for mentally handicapped people.” Forced sterilization is a crime against humanity and this provision goes against the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified by Rwanda in May of last year.