International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Ambassador Ngarambe,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is an honour to join you for the commemoration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Thank you to everyone involved, in particular the Permanent Mission of Rwanda, for bringing us together.

Let me share with you the message of the Secretary-General:

“This year marks the 25th anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, one of the darkest chapters in recent human history. More than 800,000 people – overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu and others who opposed the genocide – were systematically killed in less than three months. On this Day, we honour those who were murdered and reflect on the suffering and resilience of those who survived.

As we renew our resolve to prevent such atrocities from ever happening again, we are seeing dangerous trends of rising xenophobia, racism and intolerance in many parts of the world. Particularly troubling is the proliferation of hate speech and incitement to violence. They are an affront to our values, and threaten human rights, social stability and peace. Wherever they occur, hate speech and incitement to violence should be identified, confronted and stopped to prevent them leading, as they have in the past, to hate crimes and genocide.

I call on all political, religious and civil society leaders to reject hate speech and discrimination, and to work vigorously to address and mitigate the root causes that undermine social cohesion and create conditions for hatred and intolerance.

The capacity for evil resides in all our societies, but so, too, do the qualities of understanding, kindness, justice and reconciliation. Let us work together to build a harmonious future for all. This is the best way to honour those who lost their lives so tragically in Rwanda 25 years ago.”

These were the words of the Secretary-General.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I was moved witnessing just now the 25 teenagers declaring in seven languages “never, never again”. And it prompted me to reflect once again on the responsibility this imperative demands from each and every one of us.

Our responsibility to honour the memory of those murdered a quarter century ago.

Our responsibility to seek to learn the truth of what happened, to make sure that neither we, nor future generations, ever forget.

Our responsibility to stand against those who deny or relativize their own complicities or that of their parents or grandparents.

Our responsibility to deny impunity to perpetrators, while searching for pathways towards reconciliation.

You, the teenagers, were not yet born when these terrible acts unfolded in Rwanda - but the responsibility to keep the memory alive rests with you as much as it does with all of us. Because it is not just a call to honour the past; it is also a call to take action to shape the future. To never succumb to comfortable complacency, to never be blind to the first signs of danger.

So how do we recognize the danger when we see it? We recognize it whenever we hear hate speech; we recognize it whenever anyone says: “It’s all the fault of…” It’s all the fault of those who speak differently, act different, look different. Whatever the trait, dislike of the unlike is a dangerous thing. Whenever you hear the words “It’s all the fault of” then we are in the presence of danger.

And by warning us of the poison of hate speech that is spreading across the world today, the Secretary-General is reminding us that the genocide in Rwanda 25 years ago was but the awful extreme of the ignorance and intolerance that we see every day; the bigotry that says another person is less than my equal, less than human.

So that in the end is why we’re here. Not just to remember the genocide in Rwanda, but to speak. To speak out wherever we witness hate.

Thank you