After a visit to the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Centre, a mass grave in the city of Kigali, Rwanda, Governor General Michaëlle Jean apologized to Rwandan leaders for Canada’s “inaction” during the 1994 genocide in the African country.
Ibuka, the main organization of Rwandan genocide survivors, brought the question of survivors’ murders before both houses of the Rwandan parliament. According to Ibuka, twenty-six genocide survivors were murdered in 2009 in Rwanda. Nine women and several children are said to be among the victims.
The Hirondelle News Agency reports that Ibuka, the umbrella organization of genocide survivors in Rwanda, documented the murder of twenty-six genocide survivors in 2009 in Rwanda. Among those murdered are nine women and several children.
Recognizing the numerous difficulties faced by survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide — particularly orphans, widows and victims of sexual violence, many of whom had contracted HIV or since died of AIDS — the General Assembly adopted a resolution requesting the Secretary-General to encourage relevant U.N. agencies, funds and programmes to provide assistance in the areas of education, medical care, skills training and microcredit programmes aimed at promoting self-sufficiency.
The Hirondelle News Agency reports that the “One Dollar Campaign” launched in Rwanda on April 4, 2009 to raise funds to support orphans of the 1994 Rwandan genocide has collected 500 million Rwandan Francs (1 mil. US dollars) to date, according to a report published by the Rwandan daily New Times.
Despite initial plans to wind up trials at the end of June, the Hirondelle News Agency reports gacaca trials in Rwanda will continue until the end of the year.
From 16 to 18 June 2009, an interdisciplinary colloquium focussing on innovations and challenges of empirical and other information gathering techniques to build evidence for the prosecution of cases of sexual violence was held in The Hague. The colloquium also launched the photo-exhibition “The Men Who Killed Me” by Samer Muscati in the lobby of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will remain until the 3rd of July.
The Hirondelle News Agency reports that owning a house remains the main concern for the 1994 survivors of the worst slaughter in modern history. More than 30,000 survivors are without decent housing.
A Quebec court has found Désiré Munyaneza guilty of war crimes committed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the first conviction under a Canadian law that allows residents to be tried for crimes committed abroad.
In the days following the launch of “The Men Who Killed Me”, the book and the photo-exhibition have received press coverage in various publications, including The Globe and Mail and Herizons, Canada’s largest feminist magazine.
