KARONGI - The Human Rights Advisor to the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), Oumar Kane, has described Rwanda’s progress in observation of human rights as impressive and promising. Speaking to The New Times during the national workshop on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Kane said; “we have to appreciate that just 16 years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda has registered a lot of progress in terms of observing fundamental human rights.” The UPR is process that assesses the human rights situation of all 192 UN Member States on a four-year basis.The three-day workshop in Karongi brought together members of the taskforce charged with drafting the report on Rwanda’s human rights situation. The taskforce operates under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kane emphasized that the situation in the country has greatly improved, especially regarding the promotion of women’s rights. “Rwanda certainly is facing some challenges and it is important that the country also adopts the process of UPR since the goal is to improve the human rights situation in all the countries of the world,” Kane said. He pointed out that the UPR provides Rwanda with the possibility of showcasing actions it has taken to improve the human rights situation in the country. Speaking at the event, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eugene Munyakayanza, underscored that the UPR was of paramount importance to the government. “The process is of paramount importance to our government for it will provide useful skills and knowledge on the preparation and presentation of a high-quality report to the human rights council,” he said. “I can assure you that many outstanding and impressive achievements have been registered in this field, and we have to do everything possible to show the world the real picture of our country,” he added. The UPR report should be ready in February next year but the drafting process on the elaboration of the state report is expected to be completed before August this year.The workshop ends today. Ends
