UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres asked for action to prevent genocide as well as racism and xenophobia.
“Preventing genocide, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international law is a shared responsibility. It is a core duty of the United Nations,” Guterres told an event to mark the international day of reflection on the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
“But warnings are effective only if followed by action,” he said.
He was deeply concerned about the rise of racism, hate speech and xenophobia around the world. “These base manifestations of human cruelty provide the breeding ground for far more evil acts. Today, people are being killed, displaced and abused in many parts of the world.”
In Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims have been killed, tortured, raped, burnt alive and humiliated, solely because of who they are. In Syria, continued escalation in hostilities, after seven years of conflict, has led to unimaginable violence and suffering. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, violence has forced 4.5 million people to flee their homes in the past year alone, said the UN chief.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Yet some 45 UN member states have still to join the genocide convention, he lamented.
“Ratifying it is a matter of moral obligation. Today, I call on all member states that have not yet done so to become parties to the genocide convention by Dec. 9 this year, when we will commemorate the 70th anniversary of its adoption.”
He called on all states to back their commitments with action. “To save people at risk, we must go beyond words. We must nurture the courage to care, and the resolve to act. Only by meeting these challenges can we honour the victims and survivors of genocide and ensure that what happened in Rwanda 24 years ago is never repeated — anywhere, ever again.”
April 7 was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2003 as the international day of reflection on the Rwanda genocide to commemorate the 1994 atrocities committed by members of the Hutu majority government. An estimated 500,000 to 1 million Rwandans were brutally murdered during 100 days from April 7 to mid-July, the overwhelming majority of the victims being Tutsis.
As this year’s April 7 was a Saturday, the world body held a commemoration event this Friday at the General Assembly hall.
