The United Nations (UN) Security Council has heard that tragedies in Syria, the Central African Republic and South Sudan sadly show that the protection of populations from atrocities remains lagging and elusive.
That was the message from the deputy Secretary General of the organization, who addressed Council before the unanimous adoption of a resolution calling on states to recommit themselves to prevent genocide, considering lessons learned from the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda 20 years ago.
The unanimously adopted text also condemns without reservation any denial of that Genocide and calls on member states to pursue all fugitives accused of acts in 1994 that may reside in their territories.
Colin Keating who is the former New Zealand Ambassador to the UN and served as President of the Security Council during the month of April, 1994 the beginning of a reign of terror that would claim in excess of 800 000 lives, mainly Tutsi says: “This briefing also provides a fitting opportunity for me in my capacity as former President of the Council, to apologize for what we failed to do in 1994 and for that to be formally recorded in the official records of the Security Council.”
He also says that at that time the Council was not getting useful reports from the Secretariat and that the wholesale slaughter was not being conveyed to them; including a cable from the UN Force Commander in Rwanda in January 1994 which provided a graphic early warning of events that were to unfold. Keating made a number of observations.
“My second observation relates to the belief in 1994 that the international community did not have the means to intervene in Rwanda. But this is false. In early April, just after the genocide began, a number of countries mounted a major unilateral military intervention in Rwanda. This was done to protect and extract foreign nationals. But these forces then departed. They left the Tutsi to their fate.”
The UN has since adopted a policy of Rights up Front, an initiative aimed at improving the ability of the organization to respond more effectively to serious violations of human rights.
A failure of the international community and a dark hour for the UN, as the focus now shifts to prevention and acting when early warning signs appear. Rwanda’s Ambassador Eugene Richard Gasana though raised concerns that the UN continues to struggle with matching its normative principles with the realities on the ground…
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