The international community is calling on the governments of Kenya and Rwanda to provide information on the whereabouts of Yusuf Gasana, a missing human rights defender.
Gasana, a prominent Rwandan human rights defender, is alleged to have been abducted from his home in Nairobi on May 20, 2023 by unidentified people.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor in a statement on Thursday said the abduction and enforced disappearance is believed to have been carried out by State agents.
“I have written to both the Kenyan and Rwandan Governments for urgent information on his fate, whereabouts and well-being,” Lawlor said.
"Gasana’s family needs answers from the Kenyan authorities, who must investigate the incident immediately and reveal his fate and whereabouts,” she said.
Gasana is a member of a community-based refugee organisation in Nairobi.
The organisation advocates against the involuntary repatriation of Rwandan refugees.
According to Lawlor, despite efforts by Gasana's family to seek answers from Kenyan authorities, no substantive response has been forthcoming.
She further noted that the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances under its urgent humanitarian procedure raised his case with the Kenyan government.
She noted that between September 2023 and March 2024, Gasana’s family heard from informal sources that he was being held in a secret detention facility in Rwanda with several other people who were yet to be charged.
It is believed that Gasana may have been viewed with suspicion over his claims that Rwanda was not a safe country for repatriation, she said.
“It is especially alarming that the unknown people who abducted and forcibly disappeared Gasana from his home are suspected of being Kenyan State agents,” Lawlor alleged.
Lawlor emphasised that both countries are bound by the international human rights frameworks, particularly the Declaration on the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
She said under the framework, the two countries have the obligation to promptly investigate, search for the disappeared person and hold those responsible for these crimes accountable.