International
German journalist mulls sinister agenda to advance HRW’s anti-Rwanda rhetoric
In
October 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based so-called rights
group, published a ‘report’ titled “Join Us or Die’ Rwanda’s Extraterritorial
Repression”. The report is just their latest smear campaign against the Rwandan
government.
HRW
claimed to have ‘documented’ killings, kidnappings and attempted kidnappings,
enforced disappearances, and physical attacks targeting Rwandans living abroad.
Related: Human Rights Watch anti-Rwanda coverage not new, or surprising
HRW
has never hidden its insidious agenda against Rwanda. For three decades, the
organization has continuously published fabricated reports aimed at smearing
the Rwandan government.
After
the publication of the report, international media organizations were quick to
publish the accusations against Kigali. Today, a couple of months after the
world dismissed the allegations, some individuals are looking to rekindle the
lies in the report.
This
time, in Germany, a so-called investigative journalist, Sophia Baumann, is
causing a stir among individuals interviewed by HRW, claiming to be extending
her investigation on ‘politically persecuted’ Rwandans who received asylum in
Germany.
Related: Which type of sources does HRW rely on for information on Rwanda?
Baumann
who works for a Munich investigative newsroom "paper trail media",
seems to have believed the hearsays, and the questionable credibility of
individuals interviewed by HRW, and is ready to spread the organization’s venom
against Rwanda, in Germany.
According
to a source contacted by Baumann, the ‘research’ is already biased, and is only
looking to tarnish Rwanda’s image, by reinforcing the false narrative that some
Rwandans in Europe are pressured by other members of the diaspora, and
experience ‘harassment’ on social media and their families are intimidated.
“The
journalist seemed to affirm the ‘oppression’ of Rwandans critical of the
government abroad, which often comes from other people in the Rwandan diaspora
who are close to the government. "She asked to what extent these
individuals have been harassed,” revealed the source.
To any
onlooker, this would look like an innocent interview of a well-seasoned
journalist, yet it is deliberately serving HRW’s anti-Rwanda agenda.
On top
of the politically motivated questions, Baumann warned the people she is
interviewing that ‘Rwandans close to the government’ should not know anything
about her ‘research’. She stressed that it is better that her interview
questions be passed on to people who are more ‘politically critical’ of the
Rwandan government.
Baumann’s
‘research’ aims at sowing division among Rwandans living in Germany, and is
only focused on getting one side of the story; the side of the so-called
oppressed Rwandans.
Any
proper journalist, especially an investigative one, would know some basics of
journalism which are; truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, and
fairness. Baumann purposely ignored all these principles in her ‘research’ and
is instead invested in continuing the smear campaign against Rwanda.
In all
her ‘extensive work’ as a journalist, Baumann never questioned the interviewed
individuals about the crimes they committed in Rwanda, some of which were
committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Nor has she questioned
her government for giving a safe haven to these individuals.
Baumann’s
motivations are not neutral as she has already taken a position. Her intentions
are pure political, and she will craft her interviews as ‘evidences’, in order
to support HRW view as well as hers.
However,
Baumann should know that Human Rights Watch has willfully spent the last three
decades skillfully and relentlessly driving an anti-Rwanda agenda that has
nothing to do with protecting the rights of Rwandans.