Rwanda’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Mertin Ngoga, has said that the international community should respond to the alarming signs that point to genocide and to confront acts of genocide denial that have occurred, as such acts are a path to its recurrence.
He reiterated this during the 10th anniversary of the International Day of Remembrance and Commemoration of the Victims of Genocide and the Prevention of its Recurrence.
Amb. Ngoga said that this day is special for Rwanda, because 31 years ago, when the Genocide against the Tutsi took place, the international community failed to intervene not because they lacked information, but “failed because they did nothing.”
He said, “This failure will continue to help Rwanda to resolve that remembrance is inseparable from responsibility, and remembrance is no substitute for prevention.”
He stressed that Rwanda rebuilt itself after the Genocide against the Tutsi by promoting truth, justice, unity and finding solutions within itself, such as ‘I am a Rwandan.’
He said, “This process did not come about by accident. It is a decisive choice to turn our backs on the discriminatory policies that destroyed our unity.”
Amb. Ngoga said that even today, in different parts of the world, there are expressions that denigrate people, target ethnic groups, promote discrimination, and persecute people because of who they are, similar to what happened in Rwanda, and are done in expressions that are very similar to those used to spread the ideology of the Genocide against the Tutsi.
He said, “All of these are clear and worrying signs. Another problem is the spread of denial and distortion of the history of the Genocide in different countries and on technology. Let’s be honest. Denying the Genocide is not a normal thing, it is a criminal act. It is the first step towards repeating it, which increases the power of those who committed these crimes, further destabilizes survivors, and destabilizes the wider community.”
Hate speech that incites genocide has been spreading in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo for days, and even acts that include torturing, burning and eating Banyamulenge, yet the international community continues to turn a blind eye.
Amb. Ngoga highlighted that confronting Genocide denialism requires using accurate information and consistently avoiding bias.
“What is missing is not information, analysis or recent examples. There is a lack of willingness on the part of member states to act early, even when it is politically difficult, to stand up for the truth, even when it means confronting its supporters. The effort to name the genocide and to do so would have diplomatic consequences.”
He commended the work done by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, and the work done by the International Mechanism for Residual Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), but urged that justice not be served only when the world wants it.
To date, there are five Rwandans in the UK suspected of genocide, but the UK has refused to try them or extradite them to Rwanda. There are also over 1,100 others suspected of involvement in the Genocide against the Tutsi in various countries with arrest warrants, but countries are showing little willingness.
He said, “Justice should be served on time, based on survivors, and respected by all.”
Amb. Ngoga urged the United Nations to put the same effort into preventing genocide that it puts into ending wars in different regions.
He stressed that failure to prevent genocide is a political choice, not an impossibility, and therefore, UN member states should adopt ‘never again’ as a guiding principle for the functioning of the international community.
