CONFERENCE ON 61st ANNIVERSARY OF THE UN CONVENTION ON PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Today on December, 8th 2009, at Hotel des Mille Collines, was held a conference on 61st anniversary of the UN Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide, a conference hosted by CNLG

The Conference started at 9:00 AM. After the welcome speech of the Executive Secretary of the CNLG, the Ministry of Sport and Culture officially opened the conference.

After showing the audience how the International Community failed abandoned the Rwanda when the genocide was being prepared and during the genocide, The Ministry of Culture and Sport welcomed the participants and asked them to take the recommendations that will make the UN convention on prevention and punishment of the crime of Genocide more realizable.  

The discussions during the conference were about different themes that are:

• Teaching conventions and other International Human Rights instruments
• Media and International Human Rights instruments
• UN convention and the punishment of the crime of Genocide
• The state of Human Rights in Rwanda with special reference to UN convention on Genocide
• UN Convention and the International criminal tribunal for Rwanda.

The discussions emphasized on the objectives of the convention on prevention and punishment of the crime of Genocide, its implementation and its weaknesses that concluded to the Genocide against Tutsi in 1994.

The participants to the conference gave the following conclusions and recommendations:

1. To examine the articles within the UN convention on prevention and punishment of the crime of Genocide in order to recommend possible articles to meet the current needs in legal development;
2. To see the possibility of those acquitted innocent by ICTR, to be appeal for revision of the court decision in case there are new crimes and evidence which were raised at the first decision;
3. The Rwandan Government should appeal to the UN General assembly to take strong decisions on permanent commemoration of the Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda, and establish legal mechanisms of punishing those who promote negationnism and revisionism of the Genocide against Tutsi. The UN should also promote harmonized education programmes of the Genocide against Tutsi as it is done with the Jewish Genocide;
4. To promote the Education on Human Rights laws, especially those concerned with UN Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the crime of Genocide in schools and in other field of Education;
5. The National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide should put in place teaching mechanism on the UN Convention on prevention and punishment of the crime of Genocide for all categories of Rwandans;
6. The National Commission for the Fight Against Genocide in collaboration with the Human Rights Commission should work with the National Commission for Development of the programmes to set a consistent teaching program on UN conventions on Human Rights, especially conventions concerned with Genocide;
7. To put in place all legal provisions which can facilitate the survivors of Genocide against Tutsi attain their reparation and compensations. For those properties of the already sentenced perpetrators of Genocide, be confiscated for the intellect of seeking compensation for the victims; 
8. The Government of Rwanda should assist the survivors of the Genocide to claim for the right of compensations for the cases already judged in ICTR;
9. The Government of Rwanda should help in initiating legal mechanism on behalf of the victims at the International level I relation to the compensation claim;
10. The Rwandan media should be mobilized in dissemination campaign of laws on prevention and punishment of the crime of Genocide and its ideology;
11. The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide in collaboration with the National Commission for Human Rights should  have their hand in implementing the teaching programs on Genocide;
12. The call for the fight and prevention measures against Genocide should be done collectivelly.

Done at Kigali, December 8th 2009