Genocide Survivors Seek Compensation

{{Members of Genocide survivors’ umbrella organisation- IBUKA are seeking compensation from government following effects of crime of genocide committed against Tutsi in 1994.}}

In a joint declaration issued on June 28, seen by IGIHE, IBUKA and Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP), noted that in past 18 years, ideas and proposals for reparation have been considered and debated, although to date a concrete legal framework to address this issue in practice has yet to be established in Rwanda.
IBUKA also says, since the immediate aftermath of the genocide, survivors have always called for reparation.

This call has been formalised in a campaign for reparation led by IBUKA since 1997, with a declaration that reparation is the absolute and inalienable right of survivors pursuant to international treaties and conventions, including the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines (as detailed below).

IBUKA and the RCSP, commend the social protection programmes of the Government of Rwanda, as supported by the international community, to help all Rwandans in general and vulnerable survivors in particular.

However, the organisation argues such social protection, which is delivered in part by the National Assistance Fund for Vulnerable Survivors of the Genocide (FARG), does not satisfy the right to reparation for survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi.

IBUKA and the RCSP also declare that this lack of reparation is a violation of the right of survivors to complete justice.

To this day, survivors continue to endure the social, psychological and material consequences of genocide which negatively impacts on perceptions of justice rendered and the trust that survivors have in the national and international judicial institutions.

IBUKA and the RCSP call on all concerned institutions, in particular the Government of Rwanda and the international community, to work together to establish an International Trust Fund to ensure that reparation can be delivered, and restorative justice served, for survivors of the genocide against the Tutsi.