The one day consultative meeting that took place in Upper House of the parliament brought together senators, the National Commission for the Fight Against (CNLG), the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) and local government officials among other partners.
The sites targeting the World Heritage list are Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Gisozi, Ntarama Genocide Memorial Site in Bugesera District, Murambi memorial centre in Nyamagabe District and Bisesero Genocide Memorial site in Karongi District.
Speaking at the meeting, Senate President, Bernard Makuza said that definitely, genocide memorial centres have evidence of genocide history and must be well-preserved.
“As a country, we established that there are some genocide memorials that should be included in the World Heritage sites and help in telling genocide history as consequences of bad leadership founded on bad politics and hatred,” he said.
“Four genocide memorials were chosen to be included on the World Heritage list, the World has the opportunity to learn from genocide history that Rwanda shares with the World as well as picking lessons and particular messages,” he added.
He said that the first lesson the World should learn from such history, is that the genocide is not an accident, it is planned and executed.
Makuza added that evidence and history in memorial centres betray deniers and people who say that the genocide against the Tutsi was not prepared.
He said that genocide memorials are among evidence that proves how the genocide was prepared and executed due to the bad leadership and bad politics.
“This process of listing genocide memorials to the World Heritage and the battle against denial of genocide against the Tutsi is not for Rwandans only, it is an exercise which requires national and international partnership,” Makuza explained.
Speaking at the meeting, CNLG Executive Secretary, Dr. Jean Damascene Bizimana said that much has been done towards meeting the requirements for the four genocide memorial sites to be included on the World Heritage list.
He said that they documented history of the districts where memorial sites locate from, uniqueness of the memorial sites, demographic and topographic data about the sites and sites environment.
They also prepared plans for the memorial sites targeting the list, sites plans and their buffer zones as required by UNESCO among others.
A cabinet meeting of May 2nd 2012 reccommended that the four genocide memorial sites are included among the World Heritage Sites
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