The African Union (AU) Commission and the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Rwanda to the African Union have jointly organized a commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi (Kwibuka28). The commemoration will be done under the theme “Remember-Unite-Renew”. It is planned to run over one hundred days, from 7th April 2022 to 3rd July 2022.
In line with the AU statutes, the main commemoration event will take place on 7th April 2022 at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa and a press conference will follow immediately after. A Peace and Security Council Session on “Prevention of the Ideology of hate, genocide and hate crimes in Africa’’ is also scheduled for May 2022. The whole period up until end of June will be punctuated by a series of jointly organized activities.
Some of the planned activities include an engagement with the African youth and women through the AU Youth for Peace Africa Programme and the AU Femwise-Africa network of women mediators and peacebuilders, to build on the “No Room for Hate Speech” campaign launched by the African Union on the 21st of September 2021 as part of the efforts to address growing threats to continental peace and security.
Kwibuka28 comes at a time when the African Union will be marking its 20th anniversary after transitioning from the Organization of the African Unity (OAU) in 2002. In addition, it is almost 30 years after the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. It is therefore an occasion to look at the past as well as the future.
Expected participants in the main commemorative event are Representatives of AU Member States, the Commission, the UN system, international partners, CSOs including think-tanks, religious institutions, the media and the public. They will participate in various activities to commemorate the Genocide against the Tutsi and promote peace and harmony on the continent.
Kwibuka28, like previous editions, aims to remember the lives lost, show solidarity with survivors and unite to ensure it never happens again in Rwanda or elsewhere in Africa and beyond. It provides a platform to learn about the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, its impact, and the country’s reconciliation and nation-building trajectory. It also aims to raise awareness on the dangers and consequences of hate speech, genocide and genocide denial. It is a call to action to prevent genocide ideology and hate speech in our communities and globally.
It is to be recalled that on the 29th of May 2000, a report of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) recognized the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in which more than one million Tutsi were massacred over just one hundred days. The commemoration is a solemn undertaking, and the world joins together to say Never Again to such heinous human rights violations.(End).