A lawyer who played a key role in prosecuting perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide is concerned about ongoing genocide denial.
An estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and their supporters were killed during a three-month period of extreme violence in Rwanda in 1994.
Canadian lawyer Drew White Q.C, who’s visiting New Zealand, worked on prosecution cases at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was established shortly after the period of concentrated killings.
“The genocide denial is continuing to be spread about by many of the perpetrators who fled Rwanda.” White told Q+A’s Jack Tame.
“The tribunal managed to catch and convict a few. Rwanda managed to catch and convict a few more, and they processed more than 100,000 individual perpetrator cases through their own national justice system. So, the small fish and some of the big fish are out of the picture, but a lot of the mid-level fish and some of the big fish are still out there.”
White says genocide denial takes several forms.
“We certainly see elements of it in in media presentations and individuals speaking to media. One of the tests that one might have is whether or not we're speaking about the genocide against the Tutsis. If you hear someone speaking simply about genocide in Rwanda, you might be questioning whether they're really thinking there was something else going on there.”
“It’s important to distinguish that it's the genocide against the Tutsi because of claims that the Tutsi deserved it (or) they triggered it.”
As part of the prosecution, White cross-examined Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, who has been described as the ‘mastermind’ of the genocide.
“Personally, that was the pinnacle of the challenge that we faced.” Said Mr White, who described Bagosora in court as one of the ‘enemies of the human race.’
“What I was hoping to accomplish in all of that was to allow the judges to see his thinking process... To get him to talk enough to be able to convict himself out of his own mouth, and I believe he did that. I helped him to do that. I asked him enough questions about enough things that he was involved in that he basically convicted himself.”
Bagosora was found guilty of genocide and sentenced to 35 years in prison on appeal.
Drew White QC says international organisations are better positioned than in 1994 to prevent similar violence, but the United Nations still requires reform.
“The United Nations is not very well equipped to deal with these situations now because the Security Council, through its five permanent members, has really faced a lot of deadlock and they really are not able to agree on very much anymore.”
“What would be a real improvement is if the so-called five permanent members did not become permanent members, or at least gave up the veto. And particularly if they gave up the veto with respect to these types of crimes.”
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