As the country commemorates, for the 27th time, the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi — the Rwandan community overseas — has urged countries worldwide to help curtail deniers of the genocide.
The commemoration start on April 7, and due to varying Covid-19 restriction worldwide, the commemoration activities will be organised in a hybrid format.
Rwanda’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Stanislas Kamanzi, said this year’s commemoration is another special opportunity for Rwandans and all citizens of the world "to renew their commitment to the open fight against Genocide and its evil ideology.”
"Nations have to take unambiguous steps to that end, including sanctioning genocide deniers and revisionists harboured on their territories, and cooperating to bringing before justice fugitives at large. Commendation goes to those who have taken concrete action in that connection,” he said.
In Geneva, Switzerland, Ambassador Marie Chantal Rwakazina will lead Rwandans and friends of Rwanda in commemorating the International Day of the Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in an event jointly organised by the United Nations on Wednesday April 7.
"Denial is the last step in the cycle of all genocides and a prelude to the start of a new cycle. Today, we are witnessing an unprecedented resurgence of denial of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Most of the deniers reside in Western cities and capitals,” Rwakazina told The New Times.
"I call on all the countries to adopt laws criminalizing the denial of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Better prevention of genocide denial (is) about bringing justice to the victims and preserving evidences of the Genocide. We all need to focus on this and fight against genocide denial in all its forms and everywhere it may appear.”
Key speakers including Secretary-General António Guterres will speak from the UN office in Geneva while other participants will watch from screens in their respective locations.
Yves Cyaka, president of Rwandan Diaspora in Switzerland, told The New Times that: "Experience shows us that the more time passes, the harder deniers work to obscure the facts of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi.
"To this end, the best prevention against genocide would entail rendering justice to the victims; preserving the evidence of this crime and fighting against its denial.”
The Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit (GFTU) has, since 2007, issued 1,146 indictments and arrest warrants against Genocide fugitives in 33 countries.
"In regard to justice for victims we request that countries world over help bring Interahamwe to book,” Cyaka said.
In preserving the evidence and memory, Cyaka noted, having Genocide memorials or monuments in several cities abroad will be appreciated.
The fight against negationism, he said, requires more testimonies, conferences, increased communication on the Genocide "and strongly through social networks.”
Claude Ndabarasa, the Head of the Rwandan community in the Netherlands, said: "Let’s condemn, strongly, deniers who want to dehumanise survivors and victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi through their attempt to weaken Rwandans’ effort in fighting genocide ideology.”
Ndabarasa said they are scheduled to hold a virtual commemoration event on April 7.
Reading 100 names of Genocide victims
The programme will include the testimony of a Genocide survivor, remarks by a chairperson of Ibuka Holland, remarks by Judge Carmel Agius, president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), an official from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the ambassador of Rwanda to the Netherlands, Olivier Nduhungirehe.
Their commemoration will also feature, Ndabarasa said, "reading of 100 names of Genocide victims to symbolize the 100 days of the Genocide,” and a slideshow of pictures of heads of diplomatic missions accredited to The Hague as well as members of the Rwandan Community in the Netherlands holding ‘Urumuri Rutazima’.
The commemorations in France will be focused on the preservation of memory and the fight against negationism.
The ceremonies will not be open to the public but will be broadcast live on social media and the Ibuka France website, as well as those of the Shoah Memorial, the City of Paris and the Rwandan Embassy in Paris.
On Wednesday morning, there will be collection and laying of wreaths in the Jardin de la Mémoire (Paris 13th arrondissement) by the City of Paris, the Embassy of Rwanda in France, the Ibuka France Association and the Shoah Memorial.
At 11 a.m. there will be a ceremony in tribute to the victims and survivors at the Shoah Memorial in the presence of Jacques Fredj, director of the Shoah Memorial, Etienne Nsanzimana, President of Ibuka France, Jeanne Allaire, survivor, François-Xavier Ngarambe, Ambassador of Rwanda in France, Madame Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris, and a representative of the State.
Nsanzimana told The New Times that from April 7, people will be able to find online, on social networks as well as the sites of Ibuka France and its partners, songs of commemoration and testimonies of survivors and various personalities.
"Twenty-seven years after the crime, in France as is elsewhere in the world, the speeches of deniers and conspirators are still vigorous and demand constant vigilance.”