UNESCO, on April 7, introduced special lighting at Rwanda’s four genocide memorials inscribed on its World Heritage List as a way of paying tribute to victims of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. ALSO READ: UNESCO certifies four Genocide memorials added to World Heritage List The special lighting was unveiled during a night vigil at BK Arena. The four genocide memorials are Kigali Genocide Memorial, Murambi Genocide Memorial in Nyamagabe District, Nyamata Genocide Memorial in Bugesera District, and Bisesero Genocide Memorial in Karongi District. “Gisozi, Murambi, Nyamata, Bisesero are places that engage all humanity. These commemorative sites, inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list, must be protected, honored and remain open to younger generations, becoming places of education for reconciliation and peace,” UNESCO stated on April 7. Murambi Genocide Memorial has the story of how about 50,000 Tutsi men, women, and children, perished during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. ALSO READ: The purpose of Genocide memorials: Condemning ideology, not descendants Some of the remains of Genocide victims were exhumed and preserved with powdered lime together with victims’ belongings like clothes they wore when they were killed as proof of the genocide that took place in the area. To be able to preserve memory, the memorial was divided into different sections. One of them has the mass graves where the more than 50,000 victims of the genocide are laid to rest. ALSO READ: UNESCO boss backs bid to turn Rwanda's Genocide memorials into world heritage site Built in Rwanda’s capital at a site where 250,000 victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi are buried, Kigali Genocide Memorial is a place of remembrance and learning which hosts tens of thousands of visitors each year, from Rwandan school students to international celebrities and politicians. Nyamata Genocide Memorial is a former church where the Tutsi were killed. Most of the Tutsi living in the north and south of the country were forcibly deported to dwell in the barren and tsetse fly-infected area of Nyamata, in Bugesera District. Once the area was inhabited by the Tutsi, around 1980, a church was setup for worship. In 1994, the once-holy place was desecrated. Over 40,000 people who had sought refuge there were all brutally massacred in one day. After negotiations between the Catholic Church and the Rwandan government, Nyamata church was converted into a memorial site, representing other churches in which the victims of the Genocide against the Tutsi were slaughtered. ALSO READ: France and genocide: the murky truth Bisesero Genocide Memorial is also known as the memorial of resistance, for the bravery of the Tutsi who pushed back against Interahamwe attacks for days until the killers got support from French troops, as told by survivors. READ ALSO: Bisesero: How Aminadabu Birara became a beacon of resistance against the Genocide Between the months of May and June 1994, Interahamwe killed more than 50,000 Tutsi. In 2014, the United Nations Security Council, following the example of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, confirmed that the Genocide committed against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 was a matter of public knowledge that should not be contested. In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly designated April 7 as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. On April 7, UNESCO commemorated the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 2003. “UNESCO is committed to promote education about genocides as a means to sensitize learners for the causes, dynamics and consequences of such crimes and to strengthen their resilience against all forms of discrimination,” UNESCO said. While handing over a certificate confirming Murambi Genocide Memorial’s inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay said: “The purpose of this memorial and inscription on UNESCO World Heritage List is to keep the traces so that people can visit the powerful tool to fight Genocide distortion, Genocide denial which started very early after the crimes. Now Murambi is on the map of the world and what happened here will never be forgotten.”
