The New Zealand Head of State on Saturday  joined Rwandans in Auckland to commemorate the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

 Lt. Gen. Sir Jerry Mateparae, the Governor General of New Zealand, representing Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, welcomed Rwandans to New Zealand, referring to it as their new home.

 "We extend our sympathy to those who lost their dear ones. We honour your courage in making the huge leap of faith involved in coming such a long way,” Mateparae said.

 He said he was delighted to see the young Rwandan Kiwis, born in New Zealand, among the congregation and also to know that Rwandan students were at Auckland University.

 Genocide survivor Rosemine Mutamuliza told the story of a 12-year-old girl, whose eyes were shielded by her parents as people all around were being killed.    

 She said while the girl did not witness the killing, she could hear the anguish of people as the relentless massacre went on.

 "The images, desperation, and anguish are still etched in her mind.  Like a scar on the body, these pictures remain, not as a source of pain but as a reminder of a path that should never again be trodden by the human race.  That young lady stands before you today. Like so many of my fellow Rwandans who survived and then undertook the long, difficult, but rewarding journey to safety, I am a stronger and better person.”  

"I am renewed, full of life, re-energised and determined to forge a better future for the generations to come.”

Other speakers included Retired Ambassador Colin Keating, who was New Zealand’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations in 1994.  At that time, New Zealand held a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.    

 The New Zealand government was among just a handful of voices that tried to influence the Council to protect Rwandans from their own government. 

 Amb. Keating said there were multiple failures on the part of the international community.

 Judge Jonathan Moses, who prosecuted for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for nine years commended the ability of Rwandans to forgive those who killed their loved ones.

 Rwanda’sx High Commissioner to New Zealand, Dr Charles Murigande, lauded New Zealand for its role in attempting to persuade the world to intervene in 1994. 

 He said commemoration serves as an opportunity to solemnly remember and pay tribute to those whose lives were brutally cut short, to celebrate the incredible resilience that Rwandans have shown in rebuilding their lives and country and to recommit to never again allow genocide to happen anywhere in the world.  

 Murigande also said thatbecause of the failure by the international community to protect innocent civilians, lessons had been learnt and provisions have been put in place to protect unarmed civilians such as  the "Responsibility to Protect – R2P” doctrine, the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Office of the Advisor to the UN Secretary General on the Prevention of Genocide, to enable the UN to be more effective.

  The Service in Auckland was organised by the Honorary Consul General for Rwanda, Clare de Lore, Lady McKinnon, with assistance from the Cathedral’s Monsignor Kiely, and members of the Rwandan community.

 Those present in the congregation included the Deputy Mayor of Auckland, Penny Hulse; the Race Relations Commissioner, Dame Susan Devoy; the Labour Party’s Foreigh Affairs spokesman David Shearer, who had worked in Rwanda as a co-ordinator of relief efforts after the genocide; Winston Peters, leader of the New Zealand First Party and a former foreign minister of New Zealand; and a range of MPs and representatives of the Consular Corps.