UN Commemorates the 14th Anniversary of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda

By Zafar Salmanov


The United Nations had a “moral duty” to learn from the lessons of Rwanda and to spearhead efforts to prevent another genocide Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed, in a message he delivered on 7 April, 2008 to mark the 14th anniversary of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Secretary-General Participates in Wreath-Laying Ceremony

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his wife, Yoo Soon-teak attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the Rwanda Genocide Memorial Museum. (UN Photo)

One of the smallest countries in East Africa, with the population of about 8.5 million people, Rwanda is comprised of two main ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Although these groups shared a common culture and language and occasionally intermarried, historically there have been tensions and conflicts between them.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that under the influence of European ideas on race during the colonial period, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Rwandans came to accept a distorted version of history which held that the Tutsis were a superior group to the Hutus. The past 20 years, the Tutsis held most of the administrative posts and enjoyed better educational and job opportunities. The tensions between the groups gradually increased and resulted in a series of riots in 1959. In the mid-twentieth century, as the colonialists were preparing to leave, the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi elite and established a Hutu-led republic. Thousands of Tutsis were killed and an estimated 300,000 went into exile to the neighbouring countries of Burundi, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda.

As the economic situation worsened, internal political tensions increased. Simultaneously, exiled Tutsis in Uganda, supported by some moderate Hutus, formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) to secure the right to return to their homeland. In August 1993, after several attacks and months of negotiations, a peace accord was signed between the Rwandan president and the RPF. However, on 7 April 1994, a mass murder of Tutsis and moderate Hutus began the day after a plane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. It was one of the worst genocides of the twentieth century.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recalled that more than 800,000 innocent people were victims of the massive slaughter and expressed the hope that the courage and resilience of the survivors served as an inspiration to the rest of the world. “It was impossible to pass through those halls and not be affected, indeed shaken to the core, by what the Rwandan people endured”, he said, recalling his visit to the Genocide Memorial in Kigali in early 2008.

Mr. Ban also pledged his commitment to prevent another genocide. He has created a full-time position of Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide whose main focus is the responsibility to protect—an obligation accepted by all UN Member States – and to act collectively when a population is threatened with genocide, ethnic cleansing or crimes against humanity.

Machetes and bullets near the border in Gisenyi

Machetes and bullets near the border in Gisenyi, Rwanda (UN Photo/John Isaac)

At this year’s observance of the Rwandan genocide, the Secretary-General announced that the United Nations plans to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by launching a global awareness campaign aimed at ensuring that people, even in remote parts of the world know, understand and enjoy their human rights. “I am equally determined to work for human rights everywhere—to uphold them, protect them, defend them, and ensure that they are living a reality”, said Mr. Ban, who also stressed that it was a common and conjoint responsibility of Governments, the media, civil society and individuals in these endeavours.

Commemoration ceremonies were held at UN Headquarters in New York and Geneva, while discussions and exhibitions were planned throughout April at UN Information Centres (UNICs) in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Madagascar, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Switzerland, Togo and the United Republic of Tanzania.

Resources:

Back to the top Back to the top.