As the world marks the grim anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which Hutu and others who opposed the massacre were also killed, the United Nations Secretary-General called for concerted efforts to defeat hate-driven movements to prevent history from repeating itself.
The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Adama Dieng, expressed on Thursday his deepest concern and strongly condemned recent attacks against villages in Mali, including mass-killings last weekend in the Mopti region, which left 160 dead, including some 50 children, according to the UN human rights office (OHCHR).
Speaking ahead of the UN Day commemorating victims of genocide, the UN chief has called for every country to ratify the Genocide Convention, which still has not been ratified by 45 UN Member States, despite being adopted at the General Assembly 70 years ago.
Rohingya refugees who have fled into Bangladesh from Myanmar have suffered an unprecedented “level of barbarity”, according to the head of the UN’s Office on Genocide Prevention.
Adama Dieng spoke to Reem Abaza, at the end of a nearly week-long visit to meet some of the 600,000-plus refugees forced to flee their homes in Rakhine State, and elsewhere, because of systematic violence orchestrated by the authorities in Myanmar.