Rwanda has faulted the UN’s Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture for terminating its mission to the country in “bad faith”.

Rwanda said in a statement released Monday that by taking action before a discussion with the government, the UN agency had violated its own guidelines as well as the pre-agreed schedule of its visit.

The UN subcommittee was in Rwanda last week to investigate alleged torture and rights abuses, but suspended its probe citing “series of obstructions imposed by authorities" and fears that interviewees would be harassed.

A psychiatric hospital

Justice minister Johnson Busingye said Kigali would now “consider its options in respect of the Optional protocol” and also challenged the UN subcommittee to make public the impediments imposed by authorities that compromised its mission to Rwanda.

“Rwanda considers the termination an act of bad faith. Rwanda invited the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture for a regular monitoring mission. For five days, the committee conducted field visits to several institutions including prisons, police stations, transit centres, and a psychiatric hospital, interviewing staff, inmates, and patients,” Mr Busingye said.

“Any technical issues that arose during field visits were immediately resolved. Allegations of reprisals for anyone interviewed are baseless and inflammatory. While we will continue to uphold the Convention against Torture, we will consider our options in respect of the Optional Protocol.”

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Rwanda is among 84 states that voluntarily ratified the Optional Protocol.

The subcommittee said the authorities had obstructed them from accessing some places of detention, and also denied confidentiality to certain interviewees who the group argued could face reprisals.

“We have been barred from completing our work in some places, and grave limitations have been imposed on granting access to certain places of detention,” said Arman Danielyan, head of the delegation.

Successive reports

However, the version conflicted with that of the government, which stated that the subcommittee - which included nine members – successfully visited prisons and institutions chosen by itself.

The committee also interviewed a cross-section of people, including prisoners, psychiatric patients, soldiers, rehabilitation centre inmates and staff, according to the government statement.

The clash comes at a time Rwanda was also fighting off two successive reports by Human Rights Watch alleging extrajudicial killings and torture by its military.

READ: Rwanda hints at talks with Human Rights Watch