RWANDA: REMEMBERING THE GENOCIDE

On 7 April 2004, it will be 10 years since the start of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Commemorative ceremonies will be held in Kigali, Dar-es-Salaam, New York, Geneva, and elsewhere around the globe to observe the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, designated last December by the United Nations General Assembly.

This Day will be a time to remember that a world which had the capacity to end the killings that claimed the lives of as many as 800,000 people did not act soon or forcefully enough, "forever sullying the collective conscience", as Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on 13 March. In remarks at the Memorial Conference on the Rwanda Genocide, organized by the Governments of Canada and Rwanda in New York, 26 March, he urged that "the silence that has greeted genocide in the past must be replaced by a global clamour -- a clamour and a willingness to call what is happening by its  true name."

The following articles have been selected from past issues of the UN Chronicle and its online edition.

Web Article, March 2004
A Decade After Rwanda: The United Nations and the Responsibility to Protect
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2004/webArticles/033004_Rwanda.asp

Issue 4, 2003
'The Whole World Knew But Did Nothing'
First Person: Jacqueline Murekatete spoke with Annabel Boissonnade-Fotheringham of the UN Chronicle.
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2003/issue4/0403p26.asp

Issue 4, 2003
Rwanda Promotes Women Decision-makers
By Consuelo Remmert
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2003/issue4/0403p25.asp

Issue 2, 2001
RightsWatch: Reconciling Non-intervention and Human Rights
By Douglas T. Stuart
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2001/issue2/0102p32.htm

Issue 2, 1999
Opinion: 'Oblivious to Barbarism of the Most Horrific Sort' The Charter: Does It Fit?
By Michael J. Glennon
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1999/issue2/0299p32.htm

Issue 4, 1998
UNconventional: Law and War - A Doctrine of Deterrence
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1998/issue4/498p52.htm


Issue 3, 1998
Within Four Swift Years, ICTR Shows Results
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1998/issue3/398p5.htm

Issue 4, 1994
RWANDA: 'Genocidal slaughter' claims as many as 1 million
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1994/issue4/0494p4.asp

Issue 4, 1994
Interview:  Witnessing 'the worst of times'
Peter Hansen, the then Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, gave an interview to the UN Chronicle following his mission to Rwanda.
http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/1994/issue4/0494p10.asp