These are rights in their true sense ; they are universal , inherent to human dignity , and are legally protected in Rwanda . Simply put , all three branches of government have a constitutional obligation to protect and enforce them .
The 1985 UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power is clear on victims ’ right to access justice and fair treatment , and it encourages states to establish and strengthen mechanisms that allow victims to obtain justice . According to the Rwandan Criminal Procedure Code , a victim has a right to civil damages , and , under its provisions on private prosecution , a victim has a right to have the offender ( s ) punished . Therefore , if we understand injustice as doing something wrong against someone , certainly an argument that skews the facts to exclude the victims from the analysis is unjust . It is even more unjust and worrisome that , in this case , a supposedly human rights organization is clearly sidestepping the victims ’ justice , which shows that they are up to no good .
The Rwandan government cannot participate in an international conspiracy that denies its citizens their rights to receive civil damages and have offenders punished . However , HRW ’ s never-ending hostility towards the Rwandan government simply dismisses victims ’ rights and considers the rights of only one of the 21 co-accused in the FLN trial as worthy of their protection . Ironically ,
HRW ’ s advocacy , which stubbornly denounces the method of the arrest of Rusesabagina , would not stand to scrutiny in the very western “ democracies ” upon which the organization rely to pressure Rwanda into releasing him . These governments have , for instance , repeatedly argued that victims ’ rights to justice and citizens ’ rights to protection against recurrence justify more extreme methods than mere luring . In this regard , the remarks made by former US Secretary of State , Condoleezza Rice , on December 5 , 2005 , speak for themselves , as shown below .
“ Rendition is a vital tool in combating transnational terrorism . Its use is not unique to the United States , or to the current administration . Last year , then Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet recalled that our earlier counterterrorism successes included “ the rendition of many dozens of terrorists prior to September 11 , 2001 . Ramzi Youssef masterminded the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and plotted to blow up airlines over the Pacific Ocean , killing a Japanese airline passenger in a test of one of his bombs . Once tracked down , a rendition brought him to the United States , where he now serves a life sentence . One of history ’ s most infamous terrorists , best known as “ Carlos the Jackal ,” had participated in murders in Europe and the Middle East . He was finally captured in Sudan in 1994 . A rendition by the French government brought him to justice in France , where he is now imprisoned . Indeed , the European Commission of Human Rights rejected Carlos ’ claim that his rendition from Sudan was unlawful ,” Condoleezza Rice said .
“ Renditions take terrorists out of action , and save lives ,” Rice added , making no secret of the US government ’ s intention to continue using rendition as a foreign policy tool .
Therefore , HRW ’ s advocacy for Rusesabagina would make sense to observers if and only if they disregard the three aforementioned undisputable facts and deny Rwandan victims and citizens the same kind of inalienable rights to justice , human dignity and protection that western citizens enjoy . The fact that European courts , the European Commission of Human Rights and US courts have repeatedly dismissed the objections raised by suspected terrorists who were brought before them through abduction and rendition only proves that in any functioning country , the three branches of government act in a concerted manner to protect these rights for their own citizens . They do this regardless of the methods used in bringing elusive suspects to courts . People around the world generally support this stance because the crime of terrorism is deemed too despicable and its threat to national interests too high when balanced with the rights of suspected terrorists . This confirms , in such instances , that the rights of the victims should
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