United Nations: International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, 7 April 2025
2025 marks the 31st anniversary of the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda that took place in mid-July 1994. Every year on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, on 7th April, commemorative events are organised at the United Nations headquarters and offices around the world to keep the memory of the 1994 Genocide alive. That period saw the indiscriminate killing of moderate Hutus and Tutsis which was spurred by racial hatred for the Tutsi minority who formed the social and cultural elite of the country. The interahamwe (paramilitary militias) killed Tutsis with machetes, axes, lances and spiked maces. In about a 100 days over a million people were killed.
To commemorate the victims of the genocide, the General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/58/234 in December 2003. The resolution designated 7th April as the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda. Furthermore, on January 26, 2018, the United Nations adopted a draft resolution that commerates 7th April as the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
In 2020, the General Assembly passed a resolution A/RES/74/273, requesting the Secretary-General to modify the title of the outreach programme to "outreach programme on the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and the United Nations". The Resolution also urged the Secretary General to undertake requisite measures to mobilise civil society for remembrance and education to help prevent such events in future by keeping alive the memory of sufferings of the Tutsi community.
At the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, a commemorative ceremony will be held in 2025 that will include:a candle ceremony and a minute of silence, a survivor testimony, musical interludes and statements by a UNESCO representative, a representative of Ibuka France, a representative of the Government of France, and a closing speech by Ambassador of Rwanda. The commemoration will be organised by the Department of Global Communications and the Permanent Mission of Rwanda to the United Nations.