The Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General on Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, has appealed to UN member states harboring genocide perpetrators to cooperate in bringing them to justice. This was said during her visit at the Kigali Genocide Memorial on September 3, where she paid tribute to victims of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. Nderitu said it is very difficult to understand why “anyone would want to protect someone who killed thousands and sometimes millions of people.” Adding: “I will do a lot of work around this, reaching out to member states who are protecting these people because they all do need to face justice.” Talking about what the UN is doing to make sure that genocide doesn’t happen again, she said that the existence of her office is already part of the measures being taken, pointing out that the office did not exist before the genocide. But above that, she said they are working very closely with prosecutors and they are in the process of putting out verdicts in a non-technical language that an average man can understand. “This is so that people can understand what actually happened and that this is the truth,” she said. Over 1,000 genocide fugitives indicted by the Rwandan prosecution live in different countries mainly in Africa and Europe. Her message in visitor’s book at the memorial site stated: “On this day…I come to pay my respects and the respects of the United Nations to the victims and survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.” “We must never forget the victims, we must never forget the crime of crimes committed in Rwanda –Genocide against Tutsi.” The UN Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect works to advance national and international efforts to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity (atrocity crimes), as well as their incitement. “My office exists as part of UN resolve in regard to the failure of the UN and the international community to prevent the genocide in Rwanda and in Srebrenica,” she said. During her stay in Rwanda, Ndiretu met with government officials including President Paul Kagame, officials from the ministries of justice, defense and foreign affairs. She also met the association of survivors and representatives of civil society and faith based organizations during the course of her four-day visit.
