A few months before Rwanda’s official accession into the Commonwealth in November 2009, an NGO called Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) wrote a questionable report for the UK Parliament’s House of Lord denouncing the application.
Authored by a Kenyan constitutional expert Professor Yash Pal Ghai, the report said Rwanda didn’t meet the requirements of the 1991 Harare Declaration which expresses the Commonwealth’s interest in international understanding, co-operation and world peace. The document contained many other false allegations that hare regurgitated to date.
The media at the time were falling over each other for that story.
But that didn’t stop the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago held on November 29 that year, to give Rwanda’s entry a green light.
Nearly 13 years later, President Paul Kagame will this week accept the Chairmanship of the 54-member bloc for next two years, at the ongoing colorful CHOGM 2022 ceremonies in Rwanda.
Over the course of the week, approximately 5,000 delegates will be in Kigali, taking part in various activities including the People’s forum as well as youth and woman gatherings. A golf tournament, trade fair and street parties will happen in Kigali growing car-free zones.
The Rwandan business community will benefit from the flood of guests ready to spend. There will also be a high-level gathering of the executives from the Commonwealth and beyond, discussing how to get the best from this huge market.
Prince Charles, the next in line for the British monarchy, will represent Queen Elizabeth as she has retreats from duty to declining health.
Other global leaders including UK prime minister Boris Johnson, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and Australia’s newly elected premier Anthony Albanese have confirmed they will be in Kigali.
What that means, in short, is no one from the Commonwealth family would want to miss. Further to that, it will be one of the major international gatherings since COVID-19 ravaged the world.
In arguments against Rwanda prior to joining the Commonwealth, the Kenyan constitutional scholar, Yash Pal Ghai, wrote; “It would seem that for a variety of reasons the Rwanda government, which maintains a large army, has made military incursions abroad, particularly into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”,
“Rwanda’s intervention has been a major source of instability in the DRC, and has caused great suffering to communities living there, particularly the eastern part”, he added in the report.
Is it by coincidence that CHOGM 2020 is taking place as conflict flares again in eastern Congo? The same fabrications and lies from 2009, are playing out even today.
The same NGO also made a submission to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights about whole list of allegations. The group has filed with the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a process through which all UN Member States are provided the opportunity to review the human rights records of all other Member States.
There is very little difference between the inflammatory allegations that the NGO then and what was published in the subsequent years. Some of the allegations border to outright xenophobia against an entire nation. However, despite the dirt, CHOGM 2020 is taking place in Rwanda.
In a June 14, message to the delegates, President Kagame highlighted that Rwanda is “pleased to welcome all delegates and participants to Kigali for a safe and productive CHOGM Rwanda 2022.”
Discussions will be on several current global challenges including climate change. Some Commonwealth members may see their nations disappear due to rising seas and oceans if they are slow to act.
Other issues to be addressed by the Heads of Government include youth and job creation, especially digital affiliated jobs. They will also discuss the pandemic recovery and resilience and the impact of geopolitical situation, with the war in Ukraine and its impact on inflation, especially in developing countries.
In a world that is increasingly becoming ever more nationalistic as right-wing political forces take over, CHOGM Rwanda 2020 is one such of the few fora where sanity may prevail for the betterment of humankind.