human rightsThe past two decades have seen rapid and overwhelming progress in Rwanda, a country that was hit by the worst post cold war atrocity in 1994 when up to a million people perished in genocide. The 1994 Rwanda genocide against the Tutsi destroyed the country leaving no standing government institution, and no infrastructure and public services. It also left a large number of widows and orphans and a population traumatised by what it had witnessed and in many cases engaged in. There seemed no hope of a future. It was therefore the responsibility of the new government to revive this perishing state. Surprisingly within only 20 years, Rwanda has been hailed for its outstanding economic progress, the implementation of Millennium Development Goals, improvement of infrastructure, health care, education, zero tolerance to corruption, gender empowerment and security. Foreign aid to support the country’s budget has also been reduced from 100% in 1995 to 40% in 2012 [1].

However the past five years has seen growing criticism against the Rwandan leadership internationally. Activists and journalists are condemning the government for its laws that limit freedom of press and expression in the country. The media is not very diverse and is concentrated in the capital Kigali. Some outlets are privately-owned but government-controlled ones (Radio Rwanda and the national TV station TVR) dominate. Some independent newspapers have been pressured into closing down by the government. Relations between the government and foreign media are also very difficult [2] and Rwanda has dropped more than 50 places on the world press freedom index to 162nd – where with the possible exception of Iran its neighbours in the list are all dictatorships [3]. Additionally, Amnesty international has stated that it is unsafe to speak out in Rwanda due to restrictions on freedom of expression[4]. In response, the government down plays these critics by pointing out that the media played a big part in preparing and carrying out genocide. Outlets such as Radio télévision libre des milles collines (RTLM) and the newspaper Kanguraencouraged genocide and helped direct militias and so there is need for a certain degree of restriction[5]. Observers blame Kagame’s authoritarian style of leadership for this [4], but it appears that, for the time being at least, many Rwandans are also scared of political freedom and freedom of expression for the instability they might trigger. Can this hinder economic development and progress?

[1] Terrill, Steve ‘Economic growth pulls Rwandans out of poverty’, globalpost.com, 1 April 2012

[2] Reporters without borders, ‘world report; Rwanda’ rsf.org

[3] Reporters Without Borders, ‘World Press Freedom Index 2014’, rsf.org, 2014

[4] Amnesty International, ‘Rwanda; unsafe to speak out’, amnesty.org, 3 June 2011

[5] Dalibor, Rohac, ‘The Rwandan Renaissance’, American-interest.com, 9 December 2011