Amb Valentine Rugwabiza, Rwanda's permanent representative to the United Nations, on Wednesday, April 7, indicated that besides propagating denial of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Genocide ideologues also target the international justice system.
She noted this during a commemoration event in New York to mark the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In recent years, she noted, a rise in denial of the Genocide against the Tutsi in academia, media, and even some circles in government institutions, has been observed.
Denial, a phase of Genocide that is conceived by the Genocide ideologists and masterminds from the start of their hateful project, she said, takes several forms, the most frequent being media publications, meant to revise and rewrite history; governments’ deliberately ambiguous statements that alter historical truth.
She added: "Genocide ideologists also target the international justice system. We have observed with concern an increase in witnesses being pressurized into revising their earlier statements.
"As we meet here, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is in the process of trying a number of such cases for contempt of the court."
She thanked the members of the United Nations for unequivocally "standing on the side of the truth" through the adoption by consensus on April 20, 2020 of General Assembly Resolution 74/273 on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In Genocide, she said, historical clarity is of the essence and contributes to effective prevention.
"The task of fighting impunity and denial is the responsibility of all member states. It should be at the heart of the United Nations."
Laws criminalizing trivialization of Genocide
Rugwabiza also added her voice to those calling for countries worldwide to enact laws that criminalize the trivialization of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
"We applaud member states who have put in place laws that criminalize the trivialization of the Genocide against the Tutsi and all crimes against humanity. We call on others to enact such laws," Rugwabiza said.
Thousands of miles away, at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Amb Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, Rwanda's envoy to Ethiopia and Permanent Mission to the African Union, called on the continental body's member states to enact laws that criminalize genocide denial and trivialization.
Negationism must be taken seriously by member states and punished seriously, she noted, also calling upon AU member states that continue to shelter the perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide to cooperate with the government of Rwandan or with the UN residual mechanism to facilitate justice.