Rwanda’s Permanent Representative to the United Nation on Monday made a rallying call for member states to play a role towards fighting impunity by bringing to book people suspected of playing a role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in their respective jurisdictions. He was addressing the UN Security Council on the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which took over from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. While most of the fugitives who were indicted by the UN court have been apprehended or were confirmed to have died from their hiding, hundreds of fugitives who were indicted by Rwanda through the National Public Prosecution Authority, still remain at large. Information from prosecution indicate that as of June 2023, Rwanda has issued 1148 indictments against genocide fugitives believed to be in 33 countries. Besides indictments sent to host countries, Red Notices have been issued via Interpol over the same. However, there is reluctance by several countries to collaborate in seeing these mass murderers brought to book, which is something that Rwandans, especially survivors of the Genocide have been asking for over two decades now. Interestingly, among such countries that continue to knowingly habour genocide suspects include the United Kingdom, which is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The United Kingdom has turned down all the options available to bring to book five men who masterminded the Genocide including four former mayors who oversaw the killing of tens of thousands of citizens in their jurisdictions. Rwanda has laid out three options to ensure justice is dispensed; extradite or depot the suspects to Rwanda for trial, and if this is not possible for one way or another, try them in your local courts. While other countries in Europe and North America have heeded this call, the United Kingdom has remained reluctant for close to 20 years now since they were handed the indictments for these men. Indeed, Rwandans have everything to gain from seeing these mass murderers because they have not only escaped justice but only used their places of hiding to continue hatching their genocidal agenda, which makes them an existential threat. However, the global community has an obligation to ensure that justice is not only served, but also in a timely manner, because with close to 30 years after the Genocide, both the survivors who witnessed the horrors firsthand, and the suspects themselves are not getting any younger.
