(Kigali) Rwanda does not “need any lesson” from “anyone” on human rights, its President Paul Kagame said on Saturday in Kigali, after a Commonwealth summit which took place took place in the midst of a controversy over the agreement to deport migrants from the United Kingdom to this East African country.
Posted at 5:14 p.m.
“When it comes to values, we don’t need any lessons from the BBC or anyone,” Kagame said in an address that lasted nearly 30 minutes, during the press conference. closing of the summit.
“I want to assure you that there is no one […] who [connaît] values better than us here in Rwanda”, he said, while his country is harshly criticized by NGOs in terms of human rights.
Mr Kagame dismissed accusations of the detention of political opponents, saying some of his most vocal critics had been released from prison by presidential pardon. “There is no one in Rwanda who is in prison who should not be there, because we have a judicial system which is in fact functional and fair”, he assured.
The decision to hold the summit in Rwanda has been strongly criticized by human rights organisations, which have accused Commonwealth leaders of turning a blind eye to the repression and imprisonment of opponents in the host country.
Mr Kagame, who has led the country de facto since the end of the genocide in 1994, told reporters that Rwanda was proud of its record.
Ahead of the summit, in which British Prince Charles and around 30 leaders participated, 23 human rights NGOs recalled in an open letter their “serious concerns” on this subject. They judged that the Commonwealth was damaging its credibility by holding its summit in Kigali, accusing the authorities of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, torture and extrajudicial executions.
The summit was also held in the midst of a controversy over the agreement to deport migrants from the United Kingdom to Rwanda.
This program has been condemned by numerous human rights NGOs and the UN. The Anglican Church called it “immoral”. Prince Charles is also opposed to this device, which he privately described as “appalling”.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had defended his plan on Thursday in Rwanda, saying that “Rwanda has experienced a total transformation over the past two decades”.