A French government official has reiterated her country's commitment to bring to justice perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi who are on French territory.
Speaking during the 32nd commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi (Kwibuka32) in Paris on Tuesday, April 7, Emmanuelle Blatmann, the Director for Africa and the Indian Ocean at the French foreign ministry, stressed that remembrance must go hand in hand with accountability.
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"Kwibuka is not only about looking back at the past. It is about refusing erasure and forgetting; it is also about rejecting imprecision in words, numbers, and responsibilities,” she said.
She warned that those who believed they had evaded justice would be held accountable.
"To the presumed genocidaires who thought they had found refuge or impunity in France, justice will be delivered with the full force of the law.”
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France has tried and convicted eight Genocide perpetrators. These are Cap Pascal Simbikangwa, Octavien Ngenzi, Tite Barahira, Claude Muhayimana, Laurent Bucyibaruta, Philippe Manier Hategekimana, Dr Sosthene Munyemana and Dr Eugene Rwamucyo, whose appeal trial is scheduled in June. In November, French courts are expected to begin the trial of Safari Majariwa for Genocide crimes.
The commemoration event was also attended by Louise Mushikiwabo, the Secretary General Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, the Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire, Rwanda’s ambassador to France François Nkulikiyimfura, and members of the Rwandan community in France, as well as representatives of international organisation.
The mourners reflected on Rwanda&039;s reconstruction from the Genocide that claimed more than one million lives. They also emphasised the global responsibility to confront genocide ideology through education.
Ambassador Nkulikiyimfura highlighted the roots of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
"The genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi was not a sudden outburst of violence. It was prepared, methodically and coldly, over decades,” he said.
He explained how an ideology of hatred was constructed and spread as the Tutsi were dehumanised over decades.
He warned that such rhetoric persists today, particularly in eastern DR Congo, where Tutsi communities continue to face violence fueled by hate speech.
"Since the Holocaust in 1945, and after the Genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, the international community committed to ‘Never again.’ Yet today, Tutsi are still targeted in eastern DR Congo: they are called poison, cockroaches, viruses to be eradicated, especially by senior political leaders and these populations continue to suffer deadly violence,” he said.
He called for collective responsibility in countering such narratives, especially in the digital age.
"Rejecting hate speech, like transmitting memory, is a collective responsibility. It is our duty to fight against genocidal ideology, in all its forms, wherever it manifests or tends to be normalized.”
Asa Regner, the Deputy Director-General of UNESCO, underscored the importance of truth-telling and historical clarity.
"Remembrance requires speaking clearly about what happened, including international failures,” Regner said.
"Genocide is never accidental. It begins when hatred is normalized and neighbors are turned into enemies. This is why UNESCO places education at the heart of its mission, to transmit history rigorously, listen to survivors, and confront denial and distortion.”
The event was also enriched by voices from the survivors, scholars and youth, reflecting on the enduring consequences of genocide ideology.
Historian Marcel Kabanda captured the persistence of hatred beyond the 1994 killings.
"The end of the killings is not the end of hatred,” he said, underscoring the continued need for vigilance.
The event in Paris concluded with the laying of wreaths in the Garden of Memory of the Genocide against the Tutsi in the Parc de Choisy.