PRESS RELEASE
Cambridge, October 7, 2019
Following our research initiative on the crimes committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) in Rwanda and subsequently in DRC in collaboration with its Congolese ally AFDL, against members of Hutu ethnic group in DR Congo (former Zaïre);
Based on our own independent expert assessment of all available reliable information, previous research and facts related to the wholesale massacre of the Hutu in relation to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide;
Having considered the authoritative definition of the crime of genocide by the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention which defines genocide, we, scholars, experts, researchers, survivors, human rights defenders, hereby declare and recognise as a CRIME of GENOCIDE, the wholesale killings of hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu population in Rwanda and of Rwandan Hutu refugees, Burundian Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutu citizens in DRC on the basis of their membership to Hutu ethnic group and without regard to their age, gender or nationality by the Rwandan Patriotic army and its Congolese ally AFDL.
We call upon the international community to fulfil their obligations under the Genocide Convention.
The full report on this recognition and our recommendations can be found at www.hutugenocide.org
For media inquiry please contact us: info@rwandansrights.org
FOR RELEASE, OCTOBER 07, 2019
