H.E. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission,
H.E. Mr. Parfait Onanga-Ayanga, SRSG to AU and Head of UNOAU,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is with much humility that we pay tribute to all those who, thirty-one years ago, were victims of cruelty, inhumanity and, ultimately, the most heinous crime, the crime of genocide. Today we are meeting to pay our respects to the victims of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Their lives must be honoured and remembered. The denial of such a heinous crime is a travesty to the victims and survivors. The fight to bring perpetrators of these crimes to justice must continue. This remembrance is in memory of the victims and for the survivors who require our support to heal and recover.
The grief that the loss of those lives generated is still felt today and undoubtedly will continue to be felt. Let me say very clearly that the consequences of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda are not only about dealing with the past. They are about dealing with the present and about dealing with the future. The Rwandan’s commitment and perseverance in searching for their loved ones, and in working to bring perpetrators to justice, has been instrumental to the present and to the future of their country. Their voice is the voice of those who can speak no more.
When we pay our respect to the victims of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda, we should be looking back, but we should also be looking forward. Such terrible events have lessons to teach us and by learning from them we are honouring those who died. We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to prevent these crimes from happening again. The commitment not to forget and the commitment to prevent are two sides of the same coin.
When we at the African Union, we remember the genocide against the Tutsi, we do so with much humility and regret, as we acknowledge our failure to prevent this crime, this tragedy. The genocide against the Tutsi is a clear reminder of the failure of the international community but also of our own institution, the Organisation of the African Unity (OAU) to prevent genocide – the failure of the clarion call of “never again” – happening over and over. We will never forget the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda; a genocide even more scandalous because it was witnessed by the international community that made the unspeakable choice of not intervening to prevent or stop it. In Rwanda the United Nations failed the Tutsi; the Organization of the African Unity (OAU) also failed the Tutsi. There are lessons learned from the failure, our failure of the past.
Just as the United Nations undertook reforms in the light of its failures in Rwanda in 1994, the OAU was also reformed, and the African Union (AU) was born – and its Constitutive Act demonstrated a critical shift from the principle of “non-interference” in the affairs of States to one of “non-indifference” to the suffering of the African peoples. This principle is set out in its Constitutive Act, which gives the Union the right to intervene in “grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.” The African Union was effectively the first institution to articulate and institutionalize in 2000 what we refer to as the principle of the responsibility to protect (RtoP), the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, the principle that was later adopted by all Member States of the United Nations at the World Summit in 2005.
The appointment of the AU Chairperson Special Envoy on the Prevention of Genocide and other Mass Atrocities reflects a deepening commitment of the PSC to acting as early as possible and resolving risks before they turn into systematic and widespread violations of human rights. We are now better prepared to provide early warning, to help States and regional organizations to build the skills and capacities required to prevent genocide and to respond in a timely and decisive manner when faced with such risk. When this does not happen, the cost is way too high.
Despite this progress, the African Union (AU) must do much more. Far too many current crises feature acts that may constitute atrocity crimes, by which I mean genocide, crime against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Without timely and decisive action, situations deteriorate and the risk that vulnerable populations suffer the horrors of atrocity crimes rises. We must and can do better. This should be our greatest homage to the victims of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi. Let us honour the victims of yesterday by preventing another genocide in the future.
When we remember the events and the victims of the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi, we are telling their families that their losses matter. The act of memorializing past events is more than simply revisiting the past. It is also about providing support to the survivors, the families of those who died and the communities that were broken. Their losses and experience matter not only to them as direct victims and survivors but to society as a whole.
We have also witnessed the mobilisation of African NGOs and the civil society proving very often to be invaluable watchdogs, detecting warning signals, and documenting systematically human rights violations, despite the risks associated with such an endeavour. To complete the picture, I am pleased to mention the recent establishment in Kigali of the Africa Regional Centre for the Prevention of Genocide. The primary purpose of the Centre will be to serve as a place to provide cutting edge and in-depth research in wide range of scholarship including education and training on the prevention of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
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The Centre will pivot towards specific and purposeful objective of knowledge transfer and exchange for diplomats, officials from the African Union, UN and regional organizations, high-level police and military officials, religious and faith-based leaders and community leaders among NGOs and civil societies. The Centre will provide essential training and education that is often considered as non-vital when preparing wide range of the above-mentioned actors to assume leadership or advisory roles in countries and context where mass atrocities could be a real or unfolding possibility. This understanding is borne from the recognition of the fact that, no country is immune from mass atrocities, irrespective of its economic and social circumstances. Mass atrocities can happen anywhere and everywhere.
I believe that all of us share the same objective – to work towards a peaceful Africa in which crimes such as the ones that were committed in Rwanda 31 years ago no longer happen, an Africa that has learnt the lessons of the past and where all populations can live in peace and dignity. I say this with my deepest respect for all the victims, the survivors and their families.
Murakoze !
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