Silencing Opposition: Human Rights Violations in Burundi

ORA Pre-Program: Silencing Opposition: Human Rights Violations in Burundi
Conversation with Former Ambassador Robert Krueger and Tony Tate, The Fund for Global Human Rights

About the presenters:
Robert Krueger is a former US Representative and US Senator from Texas, and served as US Ambassador on three occasions: to Mexico, Burundi, and Botswana; and additionally as US Special Representative to the Southern African Development Community. During his service in Burundi, Krueger’s outspokenness on human rights issues provoked an ambush of his convoy in which two persons were killed and eight grievously wounded. Former President Bill Clinton, addressing seven African presidents in Washington said, “Our symbols need to be people like Ambassador Krueger, who risked his life to keep people alive in Burundi.” Nobert Ndihokubwayo, member of Burundi Parliament said, “An ambassador out of the ordinary, he went to the country side to see for himself the atrocities committed against a population afraid to speak out. He viewed massacre sites and visited the wounded at their hospital beds. This man of peace and exceptional courage contributed immensely to the defense of human rights for the population of Burundi; even today, his name reminds people of the love and hope that he gave to the people of Burundi.” His book on living amid genocide in Burundi, From Bloodshed to Hope in Burundi, was published in 2007 by the University of Texas Press. Krueger holds a Ph.D. from Oxford University, and served as a Professor of English and as Vice Provost and Dean of Arts and Sciences at Duke University. He currently lives with his family in New Braunfels, Texas.

Tony Tate began working with the Fund for Global Human Rights as the program officer for Sub-Saharan Africa in October 2010. He oversees the Fund’s grant making programs in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Before joining the Fund, Tony was a program officer at Unbound Philanthropy, responsible for the development of the organization’s international programs. Prior to his work at Unbound Philanthropy, Tony worked for seven years as a researcher at Human Rights Watch, first as their in-country researcher in Burundi, later as the Africa researcher in the Children’s Rights Division. At Human Rights Watch, he investigated and published reports on human rights violations in numerous countries in central, eastern and southern Africa. In the 1990s, Tony worked as a case manager at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Comoros Islands. He has a J.D. from the City University of New York School of Law, an M.A. in international affairs and African studies from Columbia University, and a B.A. from the George Washington University. Tony is a member of the advisory committee of the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch and is fluent in French and conversant in Swahili.