Page 46 - Coespu Magazine 2018-2

On 23rd December, 2003, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted the resolution 58/234,
named “International Day of Reflection on the 1994
Genocide in Rwanda”, officially designating 7th
April as the date of the UN Annual
Commemoration of the Rwandan Genocide.
The focus of the resolution was to ensure that
perpetrators of human rights violations were held in
account by upholding the Convention on the
Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide including Security Council resolution 955
(1994) hence the creation and establishment of the
International Criminal Tribunal. The understanding
was that if people who committed such crimes did
not go unpunished, future crimes of this kind would
not be averted. The resolution also called for the
international community to “act in accordance with
the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide”, in order to prevent
further atrocities from taking place.
This year, on 26th January 2018, the United Nations
General Assembly adopted draft resolution A/72/L31, re-designating 7th April as the “International
Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda”, recalling that Hutu and others
who opposed the genocide were also killed. The new resolution amends the title of the annual
observance, originally established with the previous resolution 58/234.
Changing the narrative of the previous resolution and recognizing that in 1994 genocide the victims
were overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu, Twa and others ethnic groups, the UN wanted to
pay tribute to all murdered people and to reflect on the suffering of the survivors, who have shown that
reconciliation is possible, even after a tragedy of such monumental proportions.
After twenty-four years “Rwanda has learned from its tragedy, so must the international community” as
stated by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message. In this regard, all States have the
fundamental responsibility to protect their populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and
crimes against humanity. It is imperative to be unite to prevent such atrocities from occurring, and that
the international community sends a strong message to perpetrators that they will be held accountable.
In memory of the 1994 Genocide, Rwanda government and institutions established six Genocide
Memorial Sites in the Country.
The Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre is one of these: inaugurated in April 2004, on the 10th
anniversary of the Rwanda genocide, the center is a permanent memorial to those who fell victim and
serves as a place in which the bereaved could bury their family and friends. It is managed and run by
the Kigali City Council and the Aegis Trust, a British NGO devoted to prevent genocide worldwide.

44