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It is always sensible to be wary of people who always display a “holier than thou” attitude, they usually have skeletons hidden in the cupboard.
That happens to be the case of Human Rights Watch (HRW) a self-appointed defender of human rights and morality and yet, as it turns out, its morals are very loose.
For anyone familiar with relations between Rwanda and HRW’s, especially its leader, Kenneth Roth, they would not be surprised that he is neck-deep in corruption muck.
Roth and many of his underlings are so infatuated with anything Rwanda, and always have something on the coals, if not distortions of events, then utter fabrications.
Now, it turns out that HRW, under the direct involvement of Roth received payment from a Saudi company it was investigating for mistreating its foreign workers.
It has been forced to return the “gift” that Roth had arm-twisted from Saudi real estate magnate Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber who was only too happy to comply and managed to milk dry the relationship.
But Roth is like the cat with nine lives and only managed to receive a slap on the wrist from the HRW board.
“Ken Roth, the most senior person at HRW involved with soliciting this pledge, accepts full responsibility for this mistake,” wrote the board’s co-chairs, Amy Rao and Neil Rimer.
It is not the first time that HRW hands have been caught in the cookie jar trying to milk the Saudi’s and other shady sources. The organization is not a poster child of human rights as it tries to portray itself but one can sincerely say it has a thick skin and criticisms never seem to shake it.
editor@newtimesrwanda.com
