Today, Human Rights Watch announced the release of a series of archives highlighting the efforts of human rights defenders to warn about and attempt to stop the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. The documents painfully illustrate how leading international actors refused to acknowledge and act to halt the slaughter of over one million people.

The archives cover March 1993 to December 1994, demonstrating the extensive advocacy by groups like Human Rights Watch as the genocide was first planned and then unleashed. Records include strategy documents, statements, and letters showing how global leaders rejected even modest interventions against the genocidal regime.

Despite repeated warnings from human rights groups and others about the impending genocide, the UN largely withdrew peacekeepers, leaving civilians defenseless as the massacres occurred. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser to the Africa division at Human Rights Watch for almost two decades, published the authoritative account of genocide, “Leave None to Tell the Story,” and documented the international community’s indifference and failure to act.

I encourage everyone to read the full details on the harrowing archives released by Human Rights Watch at this link : https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/02/rwanda-genocide-archives-released. Ends