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- A senior researcher in the Africa division at HRW, Clémentine De Montjoye, was put on the next Kenyan Airways flight out upon arrival in Kigali.
- HRW said the refusal of entry for its envoy was to block investigations of human rights violations in Rwanda.
- President Paul Kagame submitted his candidacy for re-election in July, only a female rival, Shima Diane Rwigara, has shown an interest in challenging him for the presidency.
A Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher was this week deported on arrival in Kigali, as relations between the organisation and the Paul Kagame regime remain strained.
Franco-British national Clémentine De Montjoye, a senior researcher in the Africa division at HRW, was denied entry upon arrival at Kigali International Airport on 13 May.
She was due to meet officials from foreign embassies stationed in Kigali, but because she was "not welcome in Rwanda", she was put on the next Kenyan Airways flight out.
Before she made the trip to Rwanda, De Montjoye formalised her journey when she notified the country's Justice Ministry twice in late April and early May but got no response.
The executive director at HRW, Tirana Hassan, said Rwanda's hostility was geared towards hiding human rights abuses.
"Rwanda touts itself as an open and welcoming destination, but the treatment reserved for those who may investigate abuse exposes the government's deep-seated hostility to human rights monitoring and independent scrutiny of any kind," she added.
If that was not the case, Hassan said, then De Montjoye should be allowed back into Rwanda and do her job smoothly.
"The Rwandan authorities can demonstrate that their projected openness is not just a façade and allow De Montjoye to return to Rwanda and carry out her work without obstruction or interference," she added.
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Efforts by the HRW, to get hold of Rwanda's National Commission for Human Rights chairperson Madeleine Nirere did not yield any results.
According to the HRW, Nirere did not respond to its proposal for a meeting with De Montjoye in Rwanda.
Before this episode, she had been to Rwanda in June 2022 and August 2023 without being challenged.
A month after her last visit, the HRW released a document titled 'Join Us or Die': Rwanda's Extraterritorial Repression' which detailed how Kagame's critics were targeted across the world.
The report alleged his enemies faced physical violence, enforced disappearances, surveillance, misuse of law enforcement and online trolls.
In July, Rwanda will hold general elections and on Friday, Kagame submitted his candidacy to the National Electoral Commission.
He will be the Rwandan Patriotic Front candidate.
The only opposition leader to openly declare her candidacy is Shima Diane Rwigara, 42, of the People Salvation Movement.
The HRW said the denial to let De Montjoye into the country could be linked to an "intensifying assault on human rights, months ahead of the country's 2024 general elections".
In 2008, 2010, and 2018 other HRW staffers were blocked from entering Rwanda.The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
