United Nations Accused of Human Rights Abuses

New York: Rwandan Prisoners accuse The United Nations of grave human rights abuses

By AfroAmerica Network.

November 17, 2007.

Rwandans detained or condemned by the UN International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha have accused the United Nations of grave human rights abuses. In a letter obtained by AfroAmerica Network and signed by the current ICTR detainees, including those condemned or awaiting trials, the detainees claim a status of political prisoners based on the accusations leveled at the ICTR. They accuse the ICTR:

· Targeting only the ethnic Hutus;

· Ignoring crimes against humanity committed by the RPF, despite overwhelming evidences;

· Ignoring the mandate assigned by the UN Security council instructing the ICTR to pursue and judge criminals from both the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and the former government;

· Promoting discrimination and injustice against the ethnic Hutus, instead of reconciliation and restoration of justice;

· Grave abuses of the international humanitarian law;

· Major failures in its primary missions, as assigned by the UN Security Council.

In the same letter, the detainees accuse the UN Security Council of lack of oversight on the ICTR performance and of collusion with the ICTR in abusing the rights of the detainees. The detainees particularly target the USA and British governments which they accuse of manipulating the tribunal in order to shield the Rwandan Patriotic Front from persecution for crimes committed during the period within the ICTR mandate.

After elaborating on the conspiracy by the UN bodies to engage in ethnic persecution of Hutus, the detainees accuse the ICTR of “deliberately and arbitrarily [conducting] arrests only among members of the Hutu ethnic group with a precise political goal of presenting the Hutus as the sole people responsible for the 994 tragedy and thus covering up the crimes committed by the RPF”.

The detainees conclude that the: “ICTR has put [detainees] in prison, first and foremost for political reasons. On that account [the detainees] are POLITICAL PRISONERS of t he United Nations."

The complete statement in French and English is on http://www.afraomerica.net/shared/rwanda_testimonies.html or http://www.afroamerica.net/shared/rwanda.html or http://ww.afroamerica.net/shared/DeclarationHutuPrisonersArushaUNNov2007ENG.pdf

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