Early involvement with the community
As the Rwandan tradegy unfolded since 1994, Victoire Ingabire developed her involvement with the community, from small associations in her local community to women associations at a national level in the Netherlands.
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza was particularly touched by the injustice faced by Rwandan refugees in diverse refugee camps in The Democratic Republic of Congo.
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza is a founding member of many associations and foundations in the union sector:
- Association Contact, Dialogue et Actions Caritatives (CODAC) which seeks to give moral, legal advice and material support to the survivors of the Great Lakes region in the Netherlands or in their region;
- Association URAHO of women refugees from Rwanda in the Netherlands, focusing on getting Rwandese women out of isolation and helping them integrate into Dutch society, to assist non-accompanied children and asylum seekers;
- Fondation PROJUSTITIA-Rwanda, committed to fighting in favour of fair justice for all victims of the Rwandan tragedy;
- HARAMBE, platform of African women’s associations in the Netherlands committed to promoting development of African women on the continent.
- Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza was also member of the executive committee of ZWALU, a platform bringing together foreign women in the Netherlands to promote their emancipation
Career and family
Married and a mother of three, Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza trained in commercial law and accounting and graduated in business economics and corporate management in the Netherlands. She worked as an official of an international accounting firm based in the Netherlands where she was in charge of its accounting departments in 25 branches in Europe, Asia and Africa.
At the time of the Rwandan genocide, Victoire was following her studies in The Netherlands. Her husband Lin Muyizere and their two children, Raissa and Remy came to join her later thanks to efforts made by her lawyer Jan Hofdijk and Doctors Without Borders.
Political career
In 1996, she joined the Rally for the Return of Refugees and the Democracy in Rwanda (RDR) as the first female member. Later, she became the international Chair of the RDR.
In the following years, Victoire managed to unite Rwandan politicians in exile. In her role as Chair of RDR, she pleads for a coalition of different political parties and Rwandan organisations. Muyizere explains: ‘’She was convinced that the problems Rwanda was facing were of political origin and thus they required a strong political solution. Her aim was, and still is, to bring democracy and reconciliation to Rwanda through dialogue. That is how UDF-Inkingi was formed in 2006’’.
