UN News/Florence Westergard Garments worn by Immaculée Songa’s daughters, Clarisse and Raissa, are on display at the UN exhibition “Stories of Survival and Remembrance - A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention”

The facts don’t lie

We have a responsibility to tell the world that injustice exists, that people are dying because of injustice, and that the genocide in Rwanda was planned and executed by very clever people who recruited militants and convinced them to kill. The responsibility to prevent genocides lies with governments, those in positions of influence, and the United Nations.

On our side, we also play our part. For example, we organize commemorations and education days to explain to the public what can happen if people are not careful. Because genocide can be prevented.

There are several phases of genocide, and the last phase is denial. Today, all over the world, people are denying genocides. They have been given platforms, they write books, and say that genocide did not happen.

The facts don’t lie. So, if people see the facts, when they see my children’s clothes, there is no mistake. People said children were killed, and now they see that it’s true.

To ensure that the genocide is not repeated, we must engage everyone. We must go to the schools, and teach peace. When I talk to students, I can see them change. It makes a difference.

Before the genocide, 95 per cent of the population were not educated, and it was very easy to convince them to kill. I think that, if people have access to the education they need, they will advocate for peace.”

The exhibition “Stories of Survival and Remembrance – A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention” opens at UN Headquarters in New York.

“Stories of Survival and Remembrance - A Call to Action for Genocide Prevention”, is on display at UN Headquarters until 15 June.

The objects in the exhibition – clothes, toys, photographs, letters, recipes and other seemingly ordinary objects – survived the Holocaust, genocide and other atrocious crimes in Cambodia, Srebrenica (Bosnia Herzegovina) and Rwanda.

The exhibition is being held during the year of the 75^th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

It was inaugurated a few days before the celebration of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, in the UN General Assembly Hall on Friday, April 14.