Collectively, the international community can and should learn lessons from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and take bold steps to move from commitments to concrete actions to protect humanity against Genocide, now and in the future, anywhere in the world, a Rwandan diplomat stressed on Thursday, April 13.
Amb Marie Chantal Rwakazina, Rwanda’s envoy to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, noted this during an event to mark the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, at the Palais des Nations, in Geneva.
"But this does not seem to be completely the case. In many places around the world, we still see situations that may erupt into a genocide if no action is taken timely,” she said, noting that, for example, the prevalence of armed groups, including the genocidal FDLR, in the eastern DR Congo, "which still spread genocide ideology and causes insecurity not only in Rwanda but also to the region should be very concerning to all of us.”
· Envoy appeals to countries to act on over 1,100 indictments of Genocide fugitives
· Rwanda again asks UK to see justice served on Genocide suspects
· April 7, 1994: What really happened on the day killings unfolded?
· April 8, 1994: Genocide spread all over Rwanda, soldiers, Interahamwe joined forces to kill Tutsi
The FDLR are genocidal forces that were defeated in Rwanda and fled to DR Congo in 1994.
The UN sanctioned genocidal group based in eastern DR Congo for close to three decades has launched attacks on Rwanda throughout the years, including in 2019 when fighters of its RUD Urunana faction killed 14 civilians in Musanze District in Rwanda’s Northern Province.
The Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General on the prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, has described the current violence in eastern DR Congo as "a warning sign,” Rwakazina recalled.
"A technical-level mission by her Office established that indicators and triggers contained in the UN Framework of Analysis for Atrocity Crimes were present. These include, among others, dissemination of hate speech; politicization of identity; and widespread and systematic attacks,” Rwakazina said.
"The continued role of the genocidal FDLR in spreading genocide ideology in the region and the support it gets from where it operates have been well documented...it is obvious that somewhere, people are still being targeted based on who they are.”
As we reflect on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, she noted, "we may ask ourselves” this question: after 29 years, is the international community about to fail again to uphold the promise of "Never Again”?
· UN official recounts interview with genocide perpetrator in Rwanda
· Global eminent persons call for action over genocide in DR Congo
· Inside the secret DR Congo-FDLR pact
· Situation in eastern DR Congo a major human rights challenge – Biruta
Justice for survivors of the 1994 Genocide
The envoy also talked about justice for the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The UN Security Council in its Resolution No. 2150 of April 16, 2014, she recalled, asked member states to judge or extradite genocide fugitives on their territories. Regrettably, she said, 29 years since 1994, a number of genocide fugitives still live freely in some countries.
Rwandan genocide fugitives especially roam free in countries such as France, DR Congo, Uganda, UK, The Netherlands, Malawi, Tanzania, Congo Brazzaville, and Belgium.
In March 2021, Rwanda’s the Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit (GFTU) indicated that it had issued 1,146 indictments and arrest warrants against Genocide fugitives in 33 countries. As noted, the biggest number, 408, was in the neighbouring DR Congo, 277 in Uganda; 63 in Malawi, 52 in Tanzania, 47 in France, 42 in Congo Brazzaville, and 40 are in Belgium.
The fact that these genocide fugitives still live freely in some countries is seen in Kigali, the diplomat noted, "as condoning their genocidal acts.”
· Where are the 1,100 Genocide fugitives?
· UN opens exhibition on Genocide prevention and remembrance
· Tanzanian diplomat appeals for arrest, trial of genocide fugitives
She added: "This kind of complicity, indifference and promotion of a culture of impunity must stop. The Survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi need justice today as they needed it 29 years ago. Anyone hiding genocide fugitives must know that justice delayed is justice denied.
"The genocide fugitives who are still at large have ever since been spreading the genocidal ideology from the countries where they are situated.”
Freedom of expression exercised to propagate genocide ideology, hate speech
From afar, she said, this ideology is being spread through social media platforms, online channels, and some newspapers and so-called Organisations for Human Rights are spreading revisionist narratives of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Freedom of expression is no human right when it is exercised abusively to propagate genocide ideology and hate speech, she reiterated.
The international community and UN member states can do more working individually and collectively to counter hate speech and prevent genocide, she said.
And she mentioned some actions that can go a long way in that direction.
First, she noted, countries, which have not yet arrested and prosecuted identified and confirmed genocide fugitives residing or hiding in their territories, should do so.
Secondly, countries which have not yet accessed the UN Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, should consider to do so.
Countries which have not yet enacted laws punishing the crime of any genocide recognized by the UN or international courts, as well as any other act leading to genocide ideology, genocide denial, or its revisionism as defined by international instruments should consider to do so.
She also recommended the establishment of memory symbols in remembrance of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and inclusion of course lessons about the Genocide against the Tutsi in schools to educate the young and the next generation on the need to fight hate ideologies and stand against any form of discrimination and divisionism are also of utmost importance.
Rwakazina added: "Rwanda is grateful for countries which have taken steps in responding to this call for action and their continued commitment to building a peaceful, secure and discrimination-free world to which Rwanda is equally committed.
"We shall always remember the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, unite as a nation and continue to work hard to sustain a renewed Rwanda we have today.