Secretary-General's remarks to the General Assembly on the Thirty-Second Commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Madam President,

Excellencies,

Dear friends,

It is an honour to join you on this solemn occasion.

I am pleased to share the following message from the Secretary-General:

We gather today to remember — and to reaffirm a shared responsibility.

Thirty-two years ago, Rwanda endured one of the darkest chapters in human history.

In just one hundred days, more than one million people were murdered — primarily Tutsi, but also Hutu and others who opposed the genocide.

Children. Women. Men.

Entire families erased with unimaginable cruelty.

Today, we mourn the victims and honour their stolen dignity.

We pay tribute to the survivors, whose resilience shows the strength of the human spirit.

And we recall — with humility and shame — the failure of the international community.

The failure to heed warnings — and the failure to take action when it would have saved lives.

Excellencies,

We must learn from these failures, and from the evils that unfolded in plain sight.

The genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda did not happen spontaneously.

It was deliberate. Premeditated. Orchestrated.

Long before the first blood was spilled, explicit propaganda flooded the airwaves — spewing lies, sowing hate, and stripping people of their humanity.

Government policies were crafted to divide — and to decide who belonged and who did not.

Neighbours, friends, and even loved ones were made into enemies to be murdered.

Words paved the way for mass atrocities.

Despite unmistakeable warning signs, the international community did not listen.

Clear and present dangers were ignored, downplayed, dismissed.

Today, digital platforms allow hate speech and incitement to violence to spread faster and farther than ever before — fuelled by artificial intelligence and misguided algorithms.

The ancient toxins of racism, misogyny, antisemitism, and anti-Muslim bigotry are once again corroding our political discourse.

We hear outright denial. We hear distortion. We even hear the glorification of past genocides.

The genocide against the Tutsi shows us where this path can lead; when words are weaponized and the world waits too long to respond.

We must do more than remember the dead.

We must protect the living — by defending truth and rejecting narratives that make violence seem acceptable.

We must stand firm in our shared values, live up to our commitments, and strengthen institutions that can help prevent catastrophe.

This includes upholding the UN Charter and international law, without exception. 

Peace cannot prevail if human rights are seen as conditional or selectively applied.

Prevention of the gravest crimes cannot succeed when entire communities are being targeted because of who they are and violence meets with impunity.

And we must rebuild trust — trust between communities, between nations, and between people and institutions meant to protect them.

Rwanda’s journey after the genocide shows that healing is possible when we uphold the truth, pursue real accountability and justice, invest in the social fabric, and choose reconciliation over revenge.

Excellencies, Dear Friends,

Today and every day, we must take action.

By confronting hate wherever it appears.

By rejecting distortion and division.

By strengthening education, rooted in historical truth and human dignity.

And by intervening before dangers spiral out of control.

I call on all countries to become parties to the Genocide Convention without delay — and to implement it fully.

The United Nations stands with the people of Rwanda.

And we stand with all those, everywhere, who refuse to surrender their future to fear, division, or silence.

Let this day reaffirm our commitment to remember, to listen, and to act.

With history as our guide, and the prevention of genocide as our goal.

Thank you.

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