UN Special Adviser urges States to hold perpetrators of genocide accountable

“Only when all perpetrators have been held into account will we be able to uphold the expectations that all victims rightly possess: that their voices are heard and their suffering acknowledged, and that there is justice for the crimes committed against their loved ones,” Special Adviser Alice Wairimu Nderitu stated.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide which was fueled by decades of ethnic tensions resulted in the massacre of more than a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu by extremist Hutu militias and civilians.

Meanwhile, the 1995 Srebrenica genocide occurred during the Bosnian War when the Bosnian Serb army systematically executed over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica, which had been declared a UN safe area.

While international courts in both Rwanda and Yugoslavia led efforts for accountability of such crimes, today there are still more than 1000 fugitive génocidaires from Rwanda and thousands of suspected war criminals from the former Yugoslavia who remain at large, according to Ms. Nderitu.

Linking accountability with prevention

Special Adviser Wairimu Nderitu stressed the strong connection between accountability and prevention, warning that lack of accountability for past transgressions will sow the seeds for the violations of the future.

She underlined genocide as the gravest of all crimes due to its intention “to erase a national, ethnical, racial or religious group from the face of the Earth,” adding that “the wheels of justice must keep turning, the voices of victims must continue being heard, and all perpetrators must be held to account for their actions.”

Justice is essential but not enough

Equally imperative in the view of the Special Adviser is the need to promote healing and reconciliation once the voice of justice has spoken and verdicts have been issued.

“Justice is an essential prerequisite for healing and reconciliation, but it is not sufficient,” she stated.

She added that building a future free from crimes of the past requires sustained efforts by both those in positions of leadership as well as by all citizens within their respective communities.