Human Rights Watch on Tuesday acknowledged including erroneous testimony in a report alleging that rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo carried out summary executions, raped women and recruited children while receiving support from Rwanda, but said it stands by the report’s conclusions.
Rwanda rejected the group’s allegations, saying that the inclusion of incorrect testimony in its press release on Monday undermines the entire report.
Rwanda also accused Human Rights Watch of paying for witness testimony, a charge the group denied.
The Human Rights Watch report came as Tutsi-dominated M23 insurgents clashed with Congolese government forces on Monday a short distance from Goma, the largest city in the country’s mineral-rich eastern region.
M23 provoked an international outcry in November when the rebels — with support from Rwanda, according to a UN group of experts — captured and briefly held Goma, a city of 1 million people.
A statement from Human Rights Watch acknowledged that its report contained an error based on the testimony of one of the sources it had interviewed.
“It said that Rwandan soldiers had served with the peacekeeping contingent in Somalia and Darfur. In fact, Rwandan peacekeepers served in Darfur, but not in Somalia,” the statement said.
“We erred in including it because we ordinarily do not rely on only one uncorroborated witness in our publications. This was a mistake on our part,” it said.
The rights group said that more than 50 witnesses had confirmed the key findings of its report about continuing Rwandan support for the M23.
“These findings are accurate and we fully stand behind them,” Human Rights Watch said.
Rwandan Ambassador to the UN Eugene-Richard Gasana said the error was far from minor. He said the report could not be taken seriously and should be withdrawn.
“They should correct the entire report. The entire report is a wrong one,” he told reporters, adding that Human Rights Watch had “zero credibility.”
Rwandan Deputy Ambassador to the UN Olivier Nduhungirehe said the error highlighted a flaw in Human Rights Watch’s working methods.
“HRW pays for ‘testimonies’ and gets what it pays for,” he said. “It’s not an ‘error’ and merchandise sold can’t be returned.”
Human Rights Watch denied the Rwandan allegation.
“Human Rights Watch does not pay witnesses in exchange for information, in order to preserve the integrity of the interviews we conduct,” senior researcher Ida Sawyer said.
The UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo said in an interim report last month that Rwandan support for M23 had declined, but continues. It also said that elements of the Congolese army had been cooperating with Hutu rebels linked to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Kinshasa and Kigali rejected this report.
Separately, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked Rwanda for evidence to support its allegation that UN peacekeepers have discussed collaboration with the same Hutu rebels the UN experts accused the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s army of cooperating with.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was