HRW Paid for Anti M23 Testimony in Goma, UN Topics Secret, CAR Ignored?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 28 -- The disparity in focus on rebels in the Eastern Congo and now in Central African Republic is striking. 

   The M23 mutineers have been the subject of numerous UN Group of Experts leaked reports by Steve Hege, of UN Security Council meetings, open and closed, and a resolution, and compensated testimony gathering by, along others, Human Rights Watch.

   The taking of ten towns in CAR garnered nowhere near this focus: two press statements and a single closed door meeting of the UNSC, none since embassies including of the USA in Bangui have closed. Some have asked, where is Human Rights Watch on the Central African Republic?

   For now, we return to a topic we reported on back on December 16: HRW admitting paying for travel for those who would testify to it.

Inner City Press asked HRW a number of questions, and received a canned statement from HRW's UN representative Philippe Bolopion: 

"Human Rights Watch does not pay witnesses in exchange for information, in order to preserve the integrity of the interviews we conduct. Human Rights Watch occasionally compensates victims or witnesses for incidental costs they may incur when traveling specifically in order to meet with our researchers. As in any other conflict, Human Rights Watch documents abuses committed by all sides in the DRC and therefore seeks information from anyone with first-hand information to give."

   We ran the HRW statement on December 16; Liberationran it as a "right of reply" on December 23, along with their reporter's damning sur-reply, that HRW's investigator began with the position that M23 was the primary perpetrator, and quoting a witness at Heal Africa that HRW was "looking for testimonies against M23."

  Frankly, while having an opinion is a good thing, it would not be surprising that an employee of HRW, seeing the Tweets of boss Ken Roth, would view his or her role in Goma as finding testimonies to prove the boss' already expressed opinion.

  But we remain interested in the questions twice posed to Human Rights Watch on December 16 and still not answered: what testimony was collected? What has been done with it? 

   And since May 2011 have senior HRW staff met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; if so, what dates, and this is a request again to know the topics.

   Previously, Bolopion for HRW told Inner City Press, "To preserve our ability to have frank discussions with UN officials and advance our advocacy goals, we don't typically communicate on the content of discussions we have with them."

   But doesn't HRW disclose at least the topics raised with the UN to their donors? Is that what one has to do to be informed? Watch this site.

HRW Acknowledges Paying Witnesses for Travel, Leaves Other Qs UNanswered

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 16 -- Amid the controversies of Eastern Congo, the role taken by Human Rights Watch and its director Ken Roth has come to the fore, by their choice and as highlighted, for example, by the Government of Rwanda.

  When the French newspaper Liberation reported that a HRW investigator named Lane was offering financial compensation for "testimony against the M23," many already dubious of HRW's role fastened on it.

  Inner City Press wrote to Roth and HRW's press office including its UN spokesman Philippe Bolopion with five questions - and, to Bolopion's credit, got an answer in less than two hours' time.

  But several of the questions are left unanswered. Inner City Press asked: Does HRW have a staff member, investigator or other personnel in the DRC named Lane or anything like it? Did this individual or any other offer compensation of any kind for testimony? If so, what testimony was collected? What has been done with it? 

   Does Human Rights Watch, anywhere, pay compensation for testimony? If so what safeguards are in place?

   Separately, since May 2011 have senior HRW staff met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; if so, what dates, and this is a request again to know the topics. (This last followed a May 2011 meeting between Roth and Ban that HRW declined to summarize, despite being a non-profit and presumably accountable not only to its funders.)

   Bolopion responded with this: "Human Rights Watch does not pay witnesses in exchange for information, in order to preserve the integrity of the interviews we conduct. Human Rights Watch occasionally compensates victims or witnesses for incidental costs they may incur when traveling specifically in order to meet with our researchers. As in any other conflict, Human Rights Watch documents abuses committed by all sides in the DRC and therefore seeks information from anyone with first-hand information to give."

   The question about HRW's meeting with Ban has not been answered. Presumably, the above does confirm that "Lane" exists, and did pay. How much was paid, and to how many people, is not disclosed. Nor what has been done with the information.

   There are those who contest that in Eastern Congo of late HRW is documenting and trying to publicize "abuses committed by all sides." If so, where has HRW been on the Congolese army rapes in Minova, and the UN's refusal to disclose which units were that, and if the UN work with them?

  Where has HRW been on the lack of transparency by UN Peacekeeping and its chief Herve Ladsous, who rather than answer about Minova summoned favored journalists into the hallway for a private briefing, video here?

Bolopion used to be one such favored journalist, for Le Monde. His predecessor was not in such a relation; others also note that under Alison des Forges, may she rest in peace, HRW's coverage of Eastern Congo was more balanced.

   But it is what it is; we appreciate any fast answer, and have published it in full. Rwanda joins the Security Council on January 1, and it is hard to imagine HRW having the access it has had. 

 HRW may claim this as a result of principle. Others see it differently. But on the questions still unanswered, and on what the UN and Ladsous ultimately do in the wake of the FARDC mass rapes in Minova, time will tell. Watch this site.