20 April 2020
H.E. Mr Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
President of the United Nations General Assembly
Your Excellency,
I have the honour to submit the UK’s Explanation of Position on the draft resolution entitled “International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda” (A/74/L.40).
Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Allen
Explanation of Position by the United Kingdom on draft resolution entitled “International
Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda” (A/74/L.40.) The UK thanks the President of the General Assembly for the circulation of the draft General Assembly resolution on the Rwandan genocide.
We strongly support the remembrance of victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and believe it is important to ensure that these commemorations recognise all victims. Whilst we did not break silence on the text, we would like to use this opportunity to express some reservations on the text. These reservations relate to the substance – we disagree with the framing of the genocide purely as the “1994 genocide against the Tutsi”.
As noted in previous resolutions, we believe that Hutus and others who were killed should also be recognised. Our concerns also relate to the process – we note that there were some shortcomings in regards to transparency in the negotiation and adoption processes.
The UK remembers the tragic events in April 1994 and is firmly committed to ensuring that such atrocities never happen again.
UK-EOP-on-Rwandan-genocide-resolution-20-April
