The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances has called on Rwanda to reveal the fate and whereabouts of brothers Jean Nsengimana and Antoine Zihabamwe, who were taken off a bus by Rwandan police in September 2019 and have not been seen or heard from since.
The disappearances are the subject of a complaint to the UN Working Group by Australian human rights advocate Noël Zihabamwe, brother of the two men, which is supported by the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney and human rights barrister Jennifer Robinson of Doughty Street Chambers, London, instructed by law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
“It’s been a painful five years since the brothers were abducted and we urge the Rwandan authorities to comply with the country’s international human rights obligations and ensure that their fate and whereabouts are established, and that adequate investigations are conducted and those responsible are held accountable,” the UN experts said in a statement this week.
“Rwanda is bound by the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and has an obligation to promptly investigate, search for all disappeared persons and hold those responsible for these crimes accountable."
In 2016, Noël Zihabamwe was approached by agents of the Rwandan Government in an effort to recruit him to become an agent of influence in Australia. Upon Mr Zihabamwe’s refusal, he was subject to ongoing harassment from the Rwandan Government and its representatives.
In August 2019, Mr Zihabamwe shared the story of this harassment anonymously with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as part of a broader article on Rwandan informants operating in Australia. A month later, Mr Zihabamwe’s brothers were abducted by Rwandan police while on a bus in Nyagatare District in the Eastern Province of Rwanda.
An urgent update and reprisals complaint has also been made directly to the United Nations Assistant Secretary for Human Rights regarding the case, in response to harassment and intimidation by Rwandan officials following the submission to the UN Working Group and subsequent international media coverage.
Read more on the complaint here.