Consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi – Genocide (Senior 6 General and Religious Studies) | Ganzaa

Genocide

Lessons

Senior 6 · General and Religious Studies

Genocide

5 lessons

Lesson 4 of 5

Consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi

25 min

Two sources, two kinds of damage

Some consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi can be counted in money. Others are carried inside people. Study the two sources below before you read on.

Figure 5 (Source A). Rwanda's gross domestic product at constant 2015 prices. Data: World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NY.GDP.MKTP.KD (CC BY 4.0), retrieved October 2026. Chart drawn by Ganzaa.

Figure 6 (Source B). Share of people with each disorder, Rwanda Mental Health Survey, July and August 2018: 19,110 people in the general survey and 1,271 genocide survivors. Data: Kayiteshonga and others, BMC Public Health 22, 1858 (2022), CC BY 4.0. Chart drawn by Ganzaa.

Reading the sources.

In Source A, real GDP fell from US$2.56 billion in 1993 to US$1.27 billion in 1994. The change is $\frac{1.27 - 2.56}{2.56} \times 100 \approx -50\%$ : the economy lost half its output in one year. It did not return to its 1993 level until 2000.
In Source B, post-traumatic stress disorder was found in 27.9% of survivors and 3.6% of the general population. Since $\frac{27.9}{3.6} \approx 7.8$ , it was almost eight times as common among survivors, a quarter of a century after the genocide.
The economy recovered within six years. The minds of many survivors had not recovered after twenty-four. That contrast is the theme of this lesson.

Definition

Genocide survivor: a person who was targeted during the genocide and lived. In Rwanda the term covers Tutsi who escaped death and others who were persecuted for opposing the genocide.

Trauma: lasting psychological harm caused by a terrifying or violent experience.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): a mental disorder after trauma, with symptoms such as reliving the events in flashbacks and nightmares, avoiding reminders, and being constantly on alert. Example: the 2018 survey found it in 27.9% of survivors.

Intergenerational trauma: the effects of trauma passed from parents to children who were born after the events, through silence, fear, family breakdown or poverty.

Child-headed household: a home in which the oldest person caring for the others is under 18, usually because the parents were killed or died.

The consequences, kind by kind

Kind	Consequences
Human and demographic	More than one million people were killed; the Government of Rwanda's count of victims is 1,074,017. Hutu who opposed the killing were also murdered. World Bank estimates put the population at about 8.0 million in 1993 and 5.7 million in 1995, through killing and the flight of refugees. Many survivors were left with lasting injuries. Many women and girls suffered sexual violence, which the ICTR recognised in 1998 as a means of committing genocide.
Psychological	Trauma, depression and PTSD among survivors (Source B); grief that returns each April during commemoration; effects on children born after 1994. In 1994 Rwanda had very few psychiatrists.
Social	Whole families wiped out; tens of thousands of orphans and widows; child-headed households; neighbours who had killed or betrayed neighbours; deep mistrust between and within communities.
Economic	Output halved in 1994 (Source A); homes, crops, livestock and businesses destroyed or looted; the treasury and banks emptied; teachers, doctors and civil servants killed or in exile.
Political and legal	The State collapsed: no working courts, police or local administration. The Government of National Unity, formed on 19 July 1994, had to rebuild every institution. Well over 100,000 genocide suspects were held in prisons built for far fewer, and there were too few judges and lawyers to try them.
Security and regional	About two million Rwandans fled in 1994 to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Tanzania and Burundi, many of them driven or led by the organisers of the genocide. Armed groups of perpetrators regrouped in the camps in Zaire and attacked Rwanda; the insecurity contributed to the wars in the Congo from 1996, and armed groups descended from them remain active in eastern DRC.
International	A failure of the world: on 21 April 1994 the UN Security Council cut the UN force in Rwanda (UNAMIR) to 270 troops. Later inquiries and apologies followed, including a UN independent inquiry (1999), and statements by the presidents of the United States (1998) and France (2021) and by the prime minister of Belgium (2000).

A memorial at Bisesero, Karongi District, Western Province, photographed in July 2006: a rock ringed by tall spear-shaped poles with purple tips. In 1994 Tutsi who had gathered on the Bisesero hills resisted the killers for weeks. Bisesero is one of four memorial sites added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2023. Photo: John Crane, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Warning

Name it precisely. Write "the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi". Do not call it "ethnic clashes", a "civil war" or "the Rwandan genocide": the killing was planned and directed against the Tutsi, and the war that began in 1990 is a separate subject. Do not repeat the false claim of a "double genocide", which Rwandan law treats as denial. For the number of victims, quote the Government's count and say who made it; early outside estimates were lower.

Tip

Short term and long term. In an essay on consequences, sort each point by time as well as by kind. Collapsed courts and refugee camps were short-term; trauma, orphanhood and the regional armed groups are long-term. An examiner rewards an answer that shows which consequences ended and which still shape Rwanda today.

Important

Discuss. Sources A and B suggest that the economy recovered far faster than people did. Do you agree that the social and psychological consequences of the genocide were harder to repair than the economic ones? What evidence would you need to be sure?

FRANCE 24 English: "Rwanda: Coping with the psychological trauma of genocide" (April 2023, about two minutes). Watch for why the commemoration period reopens wounds, and for the shortage of specialists the report describes.

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Practice

State the Government of Rwanda's count of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Using Source A, calculate the percentage change in real GDP from 1994 to 1995. Show your working.
Using Source B, how many times more common was major depressive episode among survivors than in the general population?
Give two political and two social consequences of the genocide.
Explain how the refugee crisis of 1994 became a regional security problem.
Why does Source B matter for planning health services in Rwanda today?
"The consequences of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi were mainly economic." Evaluate this statement using both sources and the table.

Show answersHide answers

1,074,017 (more than one million people).
$\frac{1.72 - 1.27}{1.27} \times 100 \approx 35\%$ . Real GDP rose by about 35% (World Bank: 35.2%), but from a very low base, so it was still well below its 1993 level.
$\frac{35.0}{12.0} \approx 2.9$ , so almost three times as common.
Political: the collapse of State institutions; a new government that had to rebuild courts, police and administration; overcrowded prisons and a huge justice burden. Social: families destroyed; orphans, widows and child-headed households; mistrust between neighbours. Any two of each.
About two million people fled, among them the organisers of the genocide and their forces. In the camps in Zaire they rearmed and attacked Rwanda, and the conflict spread into the wars in the Congo from 1996; armed groups descended from them remain in eastern DRC.
It shows that trauma, depression and PTSD remain far more common among survivors, and that few people use mental health services. Planners must provide counselling and psychiatric care, train more specialists, and prepare extra support around commemoration in April.
Disagree. Source A shows severe economic damage, but the economy regained its 1993 level by 2000. Source B shows psychological harm still high in 2018, and the table lists demographic, social, political, security and international consequences that lasted much longer. A strong answer accepts the economic damage but concludes that the human and social consequences were deeper and longer-lasting.

Sources and credits

GDP (constant 2015 US$), Rwanda, GDP growth and population, World Bank, World Development Indicators, CC BY 4.0; used for Figure 5 and the table, adapted by Ganzaa.
Y. Kayiteshonga, V. Sezibera, L. Mugabo and J. D. Iyamuremye, "Prevalence of mental disorders, associated co-morbidities, health care knowledge and service utilization in Rwanda", BMC Public Health 22, 1858 (2022), CC BY 4.0; used for Figure 6, adapted by Ganzaa.
Victims: Government of Rwanda count of victims (Ministry of Local Government). Refugees: The State of the World's Refugees 2000, chapter 10, UNHCR. UNAMIR: UN Security Council resolution 912 (21 April 1994).
Memorial sites of the Genocide: Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero, UNESCO World Heritage List.
Photo: Bisesero Genocide Memorial Centre, John Crane, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Video: "Rwanda: Coping with the psychological trauma of genocide", FRANCE 24 English, embedded from YouTube.

Written by Ganzaa: Figures 5 and 6, the table, the analysis and the exercises.

1Two sources, two kinds of damage

2The consequences, kind by kind

Two sources, two kinds of damage

The consequences, kind by kind