April 7, 2022
HRRC joins the world in commemorating the Rwandan Genocide that took place 28 years ago. Genocide is one of the most severe crimes humanity is capable of, and remembering and acknowledging the histories of these atrocities are essential to ensure they never happen again.
Summary
The Rwandan Genocide began in 1994, predominantly between the Hutu, the Tutsi, and the Twa. Tension between the three groups was already high when then president Habyarimana, a Hutu, was killed when his plane was shot down. It remains unknown which group was responsible for Habyarimana's death, however the accusations between groups intensified the already existing tensions. Hutu extremists began to target and kill Tutsi's immediately after the president's death.
In the following three months, over 800,000 people were killed. Hutus who opposed the violence were killed along with what is estimated to be two-thirds of the Tutsi population. By the end of the genocide, over 2 million Hutus fled Rwanda when the Tutsi-majority group the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) defeated the Hutu regime. Many foreign countries didn't intervene in the conflict and refused to acknowledge the plans for extermination that were being carried out.