Genocide Prevention in Rwanda and Abroad
Senior 6 · History
Genocide Prevention in Rwanda and Abroad
Lesson 4 of 5
25 min
Article I of the Genocide Convention says that states "undertake to prevent" genocide, but for more than fifty years no court said what that duty meant in practice. In 2007 the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest court, did so in a case brought by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia. Read its key sentence and decide: according to the Court, when must a state start to act?
Important
Source C: International Court of Justice, judgment of 26 February 2007, Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro (paragraph 431, extract)
"a State's obligation to prevent, and the corresponding duty to act, arise at the instant that the State learns of, or should normally have learned of, the existence of a serious risk that genocide will be committed."
The Court found that genocide had been committed at Srebrenica in July 1995. It did not find Serbia itself responsible for committing it, but it found that Serbia had violated its obligation to prevent genocide, because it had influence over the Bosnian Serb forces and did nothing, and that it had failed to punish, by not handing General Ratko Mladić to the international tribunal.
Definition
Structural prevention (upstream): long-term measures that remove the root causes of genocide, such as discrimination, exclusion and impunity.
Operational prevention (midstream, direct): short-term measures taken when warning signs appear, such as diplomacy, sanctions or deploying protection forces.
Responsibility to Protect (R2P): the principle, agreed by all UN member states at the 2005 World Summit, that every state must protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity; that others should help it to do so; and that, if a state manifestly fails, the international community should take timely and decisive collective action through the Security Council.
Transitional justice: the courts, truth-telling, reparations and reforms a society uses to deal with mass crimes and prevent their return.
Universal jurisdiction: the power of a state's courts to try the gravest crimes, such as genocide, wherever they were committed.
Figure 4. Prevention can act at every point in time. Drawn by Ganzaa.
Prevention also works at different levels: the state (laws, courts, schools), the region (the African Union, the East African Community, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region), the world (the UN, the International Criminal Court) and the individual citizen, who refuses to repeat hate speech and protects neighbours.
| Type | Measure | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Law | The Constitution makes the prevention and punishment of genocide, the fight against its denial and revisionism, and the eradication of genocide ideology fundamental principles (Article 10); Law N° 59 of 2018 punishes genocide ideology, denial, minimisation and justification | stop the ideas that lead to genocide (stages 4 and 10) |
| Justice | national courts; the Gacaca community courts (2002–2012), which handled almost two million cases; cases transferred from the ICTR and from courts abroad | end impunity; establish the truth locally |
| Identity | identity cards without any ethnic label; Ndi Umunyarwanda ("I am Rwandan"), launched in 2013 | a shared citizenship instead of colonial categories (stages 1 and 2) |
| Institutions | the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE), created in 2021, which took over the work of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (1999), the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (2007), the National Itorero Commission and the survivors' assistance fund (FARG) | unity, civic education, memory and genocide prevention under one ministry |
| Memory | Kwibuka, the national commemoration from 7 April each year; memorials, four of which (Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero) were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List in 2023 | honour the victims, support survivors, preserve evidence against denial |
| Education | peace and values education in the school curriculum; Itorero civic education | build critical thinking, empathy and personal responsibility |
| Abroad | Rwanda is one of the largest contributors of troops and police to UN peacekeeping; in 2015 it led the Kigali Principles on the Protection of Civilians | "Never again" applied to other peoples |
Warning
Prevention is not only military intervention. Many students write that genocide is prevented by "sending troops". Intervention is a last resort, and it comes late, when people are already dying. Most prevention is structural and operational: laws, courts, education, early warning and diplomacy.
Tip
Classify, then evaluate. For an essay on genocide prevention, sort measures by timing (structural, operational, response and recovery) and by level (national, regional, international, individual), then judge which are most effective and why, with evidence from Rwanda and at least one other case.
Important
Discuss. The ICJ said the duty to prevent begins when a state "should normally have learned" of a serious risk. Apply this test to the members of the UN Security Council in January 1994. What does it suggest about their responsibility?
Note
Further viewing, with your teacher
The United Nations film 20 Years Challenging Impunity: United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (about 4 minutes) shows how the ICTR worked in Arusha. It includes images of victims' remains at memorials, so watch it only with your teacher.
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the diagram (Figure 4), the analysis, the table and the exercises.
