Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement Jean-Damascène Bizimana has reaffirmed the historical and judicial record of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, pushing back against attempts to distort established facts. Writing on X on April 2, the minister cited rulings by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), United Nations Security Council resolutions, and expert investigations to underscore that the Genocide, planned by the regime of then-President Juvénal Habyarimana and executed between April 6 and July 17, 1994, resulted in the deaths of more than one million Tutsi. ALSO READ: Youth urged to counter anti-Rwanda narratives during Kwibuka 32 The Minister recalled this history as Rwanda and the world are preparing for the 32nd Genocide commemoration period (Kwibuka32), which starts on April 7. “The plan for the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi and its execution were established by international experts mandated at the very time of its execution in 1994 and was definitively confirmed by the Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the United Nations,” Bizimana wrote. A legal record spanning three decades The minister walked through the timeline of international legal action. As early as June 28, 1994, while the killings were still ongoing, UN Special Rapporteur René Degni-Ségui concluded that a genocide was being committed against the Tutsi, describing the massacres as “planned, systematic, and atrocious.” On July 1, 1994, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 935, establishing a commission of three international experts to investigate serious violations of international humanitarian law in Rwanda. The commission’s preliminary report, issued on October 4, 1994, found “overwhelming evidence that acts of genocide were committed against the Tutsi group by Hutu elements acting in a concerted, planned, systematic, and methodical manner.” A final report submitted to the Security Council on December 9, 1994, confirmed the same findings. The Security Council followed up on November 8, 1994, adopting Resolution 955, establishing the ICTR, which operated for about two decades and issued judgments against 65 perpetrators of the genocide. ALSO READ: The role of Rwanda’s interim government in Genocide Among landmark cases, Jean Kambanda, Prime Minister of the genocidal interim government, pleaded guilty on May 1, 1998, to genocide and related charges, including conspiracy and direct incitement to commit genocide, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. In his plea, Kambanda admitted that he led a government tasked with executing a pre-planned genocide against the Tutsi. On September 2, 1998, the ICTR delivered its verdict against Jean-Paul Akayesu, former mayor of Taba Commune, in the first international conviction for the Genocide. The UN tribunal found that the massacres had “a specific objective: to exterminate the Tutsi, specifically targeted because of their membership in the Tutsi ethnic group.” In 2006, the ICTR Appeals Chamber definitively established that a genocide was committed in Rwanda against the Tutsi ethnic group between April 6 and July 17, 1994. UN designates April 7 as international day of reflection The United Nations designated April 7 as the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda on December 23, 2003. On January 28, 2018, the UN clarified the designation to explicitly name the crime and its victims. In 2014, UN Security Council Resolution 2150 reaffirmed the international nature of the genocide, calling on all member states to cooperate in prosecuting perpetrators and combating denial. Denial “indefensible,” minister says Bizimana directly addressed social media accounts he identified as genocide deniers, including the son of former President Habyarimana, saying their attempts to “falsify the unfalsifiable” and “defend the indefensible” raise serious questions about their motivations. “When deniers persist in denying the undeniable... in an attempt to exonerate the criminal regime of Juvénal Habyarimana, the planner of the genocide against the Tutsi, one is legitimately led to wonder what kind of heaven they think they’re rising from,” he wrote. The minister called on the global community to ensure that the annual commemoration period serves its ultimate purpose: prevention. “The commemoration of this genocide must truly serve as a reminder so that prevention finally becomes the ultimate goal envisioned by every human being and every state,” Bizimana said.
