December 18, 2012 marked the 64th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CNLG). To mark this day, National Commission to Fight against Genocide organised a one day International conference themed “Preventing Genocide”. The conference took place at Lemigo Hotel in Kigali.
The conference’s main objective was to reflect on how to prevent Genocide and develop mechanisms of transcending classification, preventing dehumanization, countering Genocide denial and creating institutions for the prevention of the culture of impunity.
While giving his opening remarks, Prime Minister Dr Pierre Damien Habumuremyi, said that he trusted the theme of this conference which is “Preventing Genocide” with its various strategies that have been widely accepted as contributing to the prevention of genocide within a society, will answer this question.
‘We, as Rwandans, with our experience of the 1994 genocide against Tutsi that took the lives of more than one million innocent people within in a three months period, we are prepared and determined to ensure that what happened here should never happen again not only in Rwanda but anywhere else in the world. Our never again means really never again’. Dr Habumuremyi said
“We cannot turn the clock back nor can we undo the harm caused, but we have the power to determine the future and to ensure that what happened never happens again”. He narrated
Speakers from across the world who attended the conference gave their point of view on various topics ranging from Why do people commit genocide, Overcoming classification by deconstructing colonial divisive mechanisms and their recurrent modern patterns, Prevention of Dehumanization and Falsely Criminalizing the Victim in Rwanda: the Road to Genocide.
