On April 9th, The Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Geneva jointly with the Office of the United Nations at Geneva organized a ceremony of observance for the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.
The ceremony was attended by Heads of International Organizations and other Senior United Nations officials, Ambassadors, members of the diplomatic community and the Rwandan community and Friends of Rwanda living in Switzerland.
The ceremony began with the traditional lighting of the candles and was followed by the Acting Director General, Mr. Michael Møller, calling for a minute of silence to honour the victims of the genocide against the Tutsi.
Mr Møller also delivered the message of the Secretary Ban Ki-moon, in which he ‘appealed to the international community to do more than just speak about atrocity crimes and then fail to take timely action to prevent them.’ Mr. Moller concluded with his own message that focused on the need to strengthen genocide prevention and promote human rights.
In the message by Mr. AdamaDieng, Under Secretary-General/Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, he stated that ‘My mandate was established on the premise that genocide must be prevented, and can be prevented.’ He joined Ban Ki-moon in appealing to the international community to do more to prevent genocide.
Mrs. MathildeMuhongerwa, survivor of the genocide against Tutsi, delivered a powerful testimony detailing her courage, strength and will to survive. Dr. Michel Gakuba, President of Ibuka-Suisse, called for the international community to pay reparations to the victims.
Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative, Dr. Francois Xavier Ngarambe, in his remarks called on ‘the international community to ensure that those who committed genocide and have been given safe haven are brought to justice.’
Ambassador Dr.Ngarambe also highlighted the lack of action on by the UN forces in the DRC against FDLR. He stated ‘’the deliberate inaction and the double language around this issue has lasted too long and should stop now’
In general all speeches concurred to pay tribute to the victims of the 1994 gencocide against the Tutsis, to express solidarity with survivors, to praise the resilience of Rwandans, to condemn denial and revisionism, and to advocate for a true never again.
This commemoration was preceded the previous day by high level paneldiscussion with Prof.Kapila as the main speaker, Diane Hendricks of Quakers World Wide United Nations Office and Rolf Carriere, Board Director, Nonviolent Peaceforce. Led by the AmbassadorDr. Francois Xavier Ngarambe, most of the discussions were around Prof.Kapila’s “twelve lessons learnt from the genocide against the Tutsi” which gave a deep understanding on the genocide, its root causes, its determining factors, its consequences, and the best way to prevent it.
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