To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the government of Rwanda's progress towards achieving the principles in the Harare Commonwealth Declaration, with particular reference to the forthcoming Rwandan presidential election. [HL2712]

We welcomed Rwanda's accession to the Commonwealth, agreed unanimously at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Trinidad and Tobago in November last year. Rwanda has made progress towards meeting the Commonwealth's core values, in the areas of democratic process; rule of law; good governance; protection of human rights and equality of opportunity; and economic policies aimed at improving the welfare of the public. While much remains to be done in all these areas, we are pleased that member states have embraced the opportunity to engage constructively with Rwanda as the 54th member of the Commonwealth. With particular reference to the forthcoming presidential election, scheduled for August this year, we feel that Rwanda has made good progress at institutionalising the democratic process. The UK works closely with the Rwandan National Election Commission (NEC), including to see fully implemented the recommendations made by the EU Election Observer Mission in 2007, as well as with regard to the practicalities of the forthcoming elections.

We also engage regularly, both bilaterally and with our EU partners, with the Rwandan Government to support political and media freedoms in Rwanda.