§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action has been taken, or is planned, by the United Nations General Assembly, on each of the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights, Mr. Rene Dengi-Ségui, in his report S/1995/916 of 2 November 1995, and, in particular, what is now the number of 2WA detainees in each of the three prisons mentioned in paragraph 71 of Annex III, where the Special Rapporteur described the conditions observed during his June visit as "unspeakable".
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyOn 22 December, the United Nations General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution on the human rights situation in Rwanda which addressed many of the recommendations in Mr. Dengi-Ségui's report. Inter alia, the resolution calls on the international community to continue its assistance with alleviating the intolerable conditions in Rwandan prisons and encourages the Rwandan government to continue its efforts to improve the situation in the prisons.
The efforts of the international community have resulted in improvements to a number of Rwandan prison facilities. The building of new facilities has enabled the transfer of some prisoners, thus relieving some of the worst overcrowding. Despite this, the International Red Cross report that in mid-December the numbers of detainees in the prisons referred to were: Butare 6,743; Kigali 10,401; Gitarama 6,447. Britain has contributed to the multilateral effort and has also made bilateral contributions to help ease the conditions for prisoners.