Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza has been fighting for the establishment of genuine democracy and respect for human rights and rule of law in Rwanda for over a decade. She has been imprisoned through politically motivated judicial proceedings and served eight years of an 15 year prison sentence after announcing her intention to contest the Presidential Election in 2010. She was eventually released after appealing to an international court. In spite of all that she had to endure, Umuhoza has remained resilient and continues to fight for her rights and that of others and on her release she resumed her activities in speaking truth to the Rwandan authorities. Despite Rwandan government human rights violations and lack of democracy being well known across the board, Umuhoza’s work to promote human rights and freedom in Rwanda has not been sufficiently acknowledged. She remains at risk of extreme forms of political persecution with no protection and continues to receive threats to her safety since forming a new political opposition party, Development and Liberty for All.
Up on her arrival to Rwanda, where she had hoped to register her political party and run for presidential elections, Umuhoza was arrested after challenging the Rwandan government reconciliation policy. She argued that for genuine reconciliation to be achieved in Rwanda, it was necessary to take into account both the victims of the genocide against Tutsi and the victims of crime against humanity committed against Hutu before, during and after the genocide. She was sentenced by the Rwanda Supreme Court to 15 years in prison but appealed to the African Court on Human and People’s Rights and she was cleared of any offence. The Court ordered her release and expunged her conviction, but she had already served 8 years out of which she spent 5 years in isolated confinement. She was released by presidential grace.
Beyond becoming a well-known personality who is struggling for human rights respect in Rwanda, Umuhoza has helped the international community to understand the nature of the regime in place in Rwanda. Moreover, her call for the remembrance of all the victims of the past dark history of Rwanda has been echoed by most important development partners of Rwanda, namely the British and USA governments in 2020.
Since her release Umuhoza has been advocating for governance reform in Rwanda through an inter-Rwandan dialogue. She published and submitted to the Rwandan government a Roadmap for a Promising Future of Rwanda in 2021.
Umuhoza has dared to publicly campaign against the project of transferring asylum- seekers from the UK to Rwanda. Her objection to the project is based on four main facts. 1) The scheme breaches international law. 2) Rwanda is not a free country as it violates human rights. 3) Rwanda is a poor and least developed nation that is still rebuilding itself, hence it will not offer any durable solution to immigrants deported from the UK. Lastly, Rwanda too produces political refugees.
Through her journey Umuhoza ‘s supporters have been killed, disappeared and arrested. She was also intimidated by Rwandan authorities and received death threats in attempt to stop her from speaking. Today she is banned from leaving Rwanda and she must report at a local prosecutor’s office once a month. Recently she received information that there is an impending threat on her life. The information that the threat was real was circulated on social media.
