Statement by Amb. Hope Tumukunde Gasatura, the Ambassador of Rwanda to the Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and Permanent Representative to the African Union

At the Headquarters of the African Union, during the Kwibuka28 symposium

16th June 2022

•  Excellency Amb. Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, African Union Commission;
• Dr. Fana Gebresenbet, The Interim Director, Institute for Peace and Security Studies, Addis Ababa University;
• Excellencies Ambassadors and all the members of the diplomatic corps;
• Distinguished Speakers of our symposium, those here inside the hall and those joining virtually,
• Members of the Academia;
• Civil Society Organizations;
• AU Staff here present; Rwanda Community present;
• Students; Distinguished Ladies and gentlemen;
• All protocols observed

• On behalf of the Rwandan Embassy in Ethiopia and Permanent Mission to the AU, the Rwandan Community in Ethiopia, and on my own behalf,
• Welcome and please accept my deep appreciation to everyone here today for your response to our joint invitation to this symposium organized by the AU, IPSS and the Embassy of Rwanda. Thank you for the solidarity with Rwanda as we continue to remember the more than one million innocent lives that were lost in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. We were together on the 7^th April in this same hall, some of you joined the AU Peace and Security council on the 7^th June for their annual session on fighting the ideology of hate, genocide and hate crimes, and you are here still with us today and we don’t take your presence for granted.
• Commemoration, among other reasons, serves as an opportunity to restate facts on Genocide. One of those facts is that in just 3 months from April 7th 1994 to July 3, 1994, more than a million people were killed. Others became refugees in neighboring countries and overseas. Properties, infrastructures and the whole Rwanda social fabric were destroyed.
• Many women and girls were raped and deliberately infected with HIV / AIDS by the perpetrators. Rape was used as a not a weapon of dehumanization but a weapon of extermination as well.
• While the genocide constitutes the gravest crimes against humanity, it does not happen in isolation of other equally serious crimes. Our panelists today will remind us of the stages of Genocide and how each state can be predictable and how preventive measures are possible at each stage. This is because later stages are often preceded by earlier stages.

• The commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi is therefore meant to send out a collective call to renew our resolve to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again.
• Today we will be honored to hear from researchers, academia, senior diplomats, as well as from practitioners
• I wish to appreciate all our speakers and panelists in the house here and those with us virtually.
• This symposium is meant to raise voices against Genocide denials and hate speech as well as observed continued dangerous trends of rising xenophobia, racism and intolerance that have led, in many occasions, to a widespread propagation of hate speech and incitement to violence. 
• The same manifestations of genocide ideologies that were clearly present in Rwanda are now visible throughout many regions of our continent and indeed the world.
• Yet all these crimes are covered by a number of UN and African Union instruments as well as key decisions and resolutions of the AU and UN.
• Particularly, the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech of 2019 that seeks to strengthen the UN response to the global phenomenon of hate speech and placing specific emphasis on the role of education as a tool for addressing and countering hate speech, while at the same time upholding legitimate freedom of expression and access to information.
• Furthermore, resolution 2150 of 2014 adopted by the Security Council at its 7155th meeting, condemned without reservation any denial of the crime of Genocide and urged Member States to develop educational programmes that will inculcate future generations with lessons of the Genocide in order to help prevent future atrocities.
• It is unfortunate however, that we are still witnessing genocide denial and hate speech in public, especially on social media platforms, and in many academic establishments all over the world. We cannot stress enough the importance of education in preventing the occurrence of genocide.
• Young people must be taught about the dangers of any form of discrimination – for instance, through the elaboration of continental curricula on preventing genocide.
• Equally, there must be a renewed emphasis on the fight against impunity. Even in the Rwandan case, 28 years later, some perpetrators of this crime of Genocide still roam free but we must remain steadfast in sending a united message to anyone who has committed such crimes, or may do so in the future, that there is absolute solidarity among our nations, organizations and individuals, and that we will stop at nothing to deliver justice to victims.
• All countries should establish legal frameworks that punish genocide perpetrators, whatever their nationality. Failure to do so will only increase the likelihood of future atrocities.
• This symposium is therefore organized in order to reach out to the diverse strata of the academia and diplomats so that exchanges of experiences and research can also help to spread the word about the dangers of hate speech, Genocide ideologies and expressions of social intolerance. But the best part is, how can the academia, civil societies, and all nationalities have a common understanding and a common fight against crimes against humanity?
• Lastly, it is imperative that while societies seek reconciliation from such crimes as a Genocide and other atrocities, it is our sincere wish that the present and future generations play a more pragmatic role in exposing and strongly acting against negations and holding responsible and punishing seriously such sponsors and promoters of hate crimes and crimes against humanity.
• We also share a responsibility to spread the truth about the Genocide and to fight against those who deny it.  I thank you for your kind attention.

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