Genocide denial and revisionism is a universal problem that requires wider international collaboration, Dr James Smith, the chief executive of Aegis Trust, a British NGO fighting Genocide, has said. 

Smith, who was speaking during a one-day consultative session on combating Genocide denial and revisionism at Parliament, yesterday, said denial cannot be addressed by one country, but a concerted global effort. 

The meeting was organised jointly by Aegis and the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG). 

"It is a universal problem, the last stage of genocide and those who deny it are as active in Europe and elsewhere as they are here. There needs to be a cooperation between those that are developing legislation here in Rwanda, and elsewhere in Africa and in Europe so that there can be a concerted effort,” he said. 

Nature of denial 

Drawing experience from Europe, particularly about the Jewish Holocaust, Smith said it is important to understand the motive behind Genocide deniers and understand the nature of denial in order to design effective strategy to tackle it. 

The motive behind this phenomenon, he said, principally is to create confusion, because those responsible for propagating denial do so with the intent to rehabilitate the perpetrating governments or to legitimise those that may wish to commit such kind of crimes in the future. 

"The easiest form is of those ones that deny outrightly. That is somehow easy to understand and combat because the evidence is overwhelming about the events that took place. More difficult, however, is when denial becomes more ambiguous, when it becomes sophisticated,” he said

He pointed to a scenario when events that took place are described as two sides of the conflict, relating it to Rwandan case where revisionists promote the notion of double genocide. 

Smith said tackling genocide denial requires preserving documents and sites of genocide, education and raising awareness, as well as considering the role of legislation against deniers. 

Dr Diogene Bideri, the principal legal advisor of CNLG, warned of deniers’ attempt to destroy every positive reconstruction effort in an attempt to undermine government and justice. 

Deputy Speaker Evariste Kalisa, thanked CNLG for organising the workshop and, particularly, its new mobile Genocide records exhibition launched at Parliament Buildings yesterday.