FAQ
Most frequent questions and answers
NO. The Genocide against the Tutsi took place in Rwanda during 100 days from April until July 1994. The Genocide against the Hutu took place on an international scale on Hutus from three different countries (Rwanda, Burundi and Congo). It took place in two countries: Rwanda and Congo. The Genocide against the Tutsi does not prevent talking about what happened in those other countries.
The killing of the Hutus started in October 1990, years before the Genocide against the Tutsi begun. The Genocide against the Hutu probably ended in October 1998 (Nyakinama caves), the Genocide against the Tutsi had ended 4 years prior.
What qualifies the killings of Hutus as a crime of genocide is and should solely on the basis that the massacres have the required characteristics according to the Article 2 of the Genocide Convention.
Article 2 of the Convention defines genocide as “any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
It is very important that the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a defined group is clearly demonstrated.
There is a lot of evidence like the fact that the intent was to erase all the Hutus in all area they would be found.
In Rwanda: the RPA Inkotanyi army did all in their powers to kill as many Hutus as possible, for example, by calling for large public meetings and then killing everyone in the crowd. Another evidence is that whenever they would gather many people from all over the area, they would first select the Tutsis and send them way; and then kill all the Hutus who were present, including children, women, elder people, the sick.
In Congo: The RPA Inkotanyi army and AFDL would gather the population, for example in North and Kivu provinces and identify the Hutus (Rwandese, burundese and congolese) and kill them all, including the children, women, elder people, the sick and the malnourished.
In Congo: The RPA Inkotanyi army and AFDL killed in large numbers Hutus and continued to hunt them down for as far as 1800 km (1120 miles) away from the border with Rwanda. They would then gather them under the promise to take them back to Rwanda, and then kill them all instead.
Experts, researchers and organisations of survivors of this Genocide have studied history of these crimes, including various United Nations reports and reports of Special Investigation Unit of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Arusha ICTR. They all concluded that the crimes committed against the Hutus in Rwanda and in DRC have all the characteristics of a Crime of Genocide. They have officially recognized the Hutu Genocide.
Stating that the Hutu Genocide didn’t take place because the United Nation has not yet recognized it would be like saying a baby was never born because he/she doesn’t have a birth certificate. When a child is born, the parents give the baby a name because they witnessed it’s birth. The certificate is only given after the parents make the declaration of birth.
This means that the expert, researchers and victims of his crimes have the right to make their own recognition of the genocide perpetrated against Hutu population and can also demand justice.
The genocide committed against the Hutus from the three different countries (Rwanda, Burundi and Congo) in Rwanda and Congo including children, women, elder people who could not have played any role in the genocide that happened in Rwanda, a country they had never been in.
United Nations or International Court are not the only institutions that can recognize a Crime of Genocide. Throughout history, no Genocide has been recognized through an international court. There are crimes that are internationally known and recognized as Genocide, but not recognized by the UN. An example is the Armenian Genocide for which, even after the release of the UN-sponsored “Whitaker Report” in 1985, UN has not yet taken any decision towards its recognition.
The authors of the UN Mapping Exercise report state that “The widespread nature of the attacks, which targeted very large numbers of Rwandan Hutu refugees and members of the Hutu civilian population, resulting in their death, reveal a number of damning elements that, if they were proven before a competent court, could be classified as crimes of genocide.”
The Report states that a court “might” rule out that it was a Genocide but it does not make that a condition. The team’s mandate had three objectives and one of them was “conduct a mapping exercise of the most serious violations…”. The experts did not have a criminal investigation mandate. Also, it is important to note that the report did not stated that only a Court can recognize this Genocide.