CINXE.COM

<!DOCTYPE html>     <html lang="en" dir="ltr" prefix="content: http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/ dc: http://purl.org/dc/terms/ foaf: http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/ og: http://ogp.me/ns# rdfs: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema# sioc: http://rdfs.org/sioc/ns# sioct: http://rdfs.org/sioc/types# skos: http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core# xsd: http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#"> <head>     <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-1CKT0BYYS6"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-1CKT0BYYS6'); </script> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <meta name="Generator" content="Drupal 7 (http://drupal.org)" /> <link rel="canonical" href="/en/genocide" /> <link rel="shortlink" href="/en/node/629" /> <link rel="shortcut icon" href="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/all/themes/unictr/favicon.ico" type="image/vnd.microsoft.icon" /> <title>The Genocide | United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda</title> <meta http-equiv="cleartype" content="on"> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/css/css_lQaZfjVpwP_oGNqdtWCSpJT1EMqXdMiU84ekLLxQnc4.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/css/css_5pO73qc-z-zv4xoH8aIAp_Prq1thKg1qz9beR7eKaZg.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/css/css_7sj3xeQGVFJXRtRI4-JyCPFU0oUuiWfueqkna8xE_rE.css" media="all" /> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/css/css_XVYn-PTjAHogQe0k4OXIFNB0ZOfhgCPV46fm0Ml9RGg.css" media="all" /> <style>@import url("/sites/all/themes/unictr/css/additinal-styles.css");</style> <script src="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/js/js_XmiWHvylOhjT-8Mdz8ifqF6zeBXgsRj826Bkgmw8tdQ.js"></script> <script src="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/js/js_ccpOGHb8nkX8q-zwfSOfhy5sttK6VjCKeav2acOd5MQ.js"></script> <script src="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/js/js_uG8sNoIPNTqv6Jbn1BrLDbiZExELwu2SG0PeXsv5g_U.js"></script> <script>jQuery.extend(Drupal.settings, {"basePath":"\/","pathPrefix":"en\/","setHasJsCookie":0,"ajaxPageState":{"theme":"unictr","theme_token":"Rfbmy9TuoGtQLd9gAcZbR0z9RSIhQJDmvPbSIaWevdI","js":{"sites\/all\/modules\/jquery_update\/replace\/jquery\/1.5\/jquery.min.js":1,"misc\/jquery-extend-3.4.0.js":1,"misc\/jquery-html-prefilter-3.5.0-backport.js":1,"misc\/jquery.once.js":1,"misc\/drupal.js":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/lightbox2\/js\/auto_image_handling.js":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/lightbox2\/js\/lightbox.js":1,"sites\/all\/themes\/unictr\/js\/script.js":1},"css":{"modules\/system\/system.base.css":1,"modules\/system\/system.menus.css":1,"modules\/system\/system.messages.css":1,"modules\/system\/system.theme.css":1,"modules\/field\/theme\/field.css":1,"modules\/node\/node.css":1,"modules\/search\/search.css":1,"modules\/user\/user.css":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/views\/css\/views.css":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/ckeditor\/css\/ckeditor.css":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/ctools\/css\/ctools.css":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/lightbox2\/css\/lightbox.css":1,"sites\/all\/modules\/panels\/css\/panels.css":1,"modules\/locale\/locale.css":1,"sites\/all\/themes\/unictr\/system.menus.css":1,"sites\/all\/themes\/unictr\/system.messages.css":1,"sites\/all\/themes\/unictr\/system.theme.css":1,"sites\/all\/themes\/unictr\/css\/styles.css":1,"sites\/all\/themes\/unictr\/css\/layouts\/fixed-width.css":1}},"lightbox2":{"rtl":"0","file_path":"\/(\\w\\w\/)public:\/","default_image":"\/sites\/all\/modules\/lightbox2\/images\/brokenimage.jpg","border_size":10,"font_color":"000","box_color":"fff","top_position":"","overlay_opacity":"0.8","overlay_color":"000","disable_close_click":true,"resize_sequence":0,"resize_speed":400,"fade_in_speed":400,"slide_down_speed":600,"use_alt_layout":false,"disable_resize":false,"disable_zoom":false,"force_show_nav":false,"show_caption":true,"loop_items":false,"node_link_text":"View Image Details","node_link_target":false,"image_count":"Image !current of !total","video_count":"Video !current of !total","page_count":"Page !current of !total","lite_press_x_close":"press \u003Ca href=\u0022#\u0022 onclick=\u0022hideLightbox(); return FALSE;\u0022\u003E\u003Ckbd\u003Ex\u003C\/kbd\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E to close","download_link_text":"","enable_login":false,"enable_contact":false,"keys_close":"c x 27","keys_previous":"p 37","keys_next":"n 39","keys_zoom":"z","keys_play_pause":"32","display_image_size":"original","image_node_sizes":"()","trigger_lightbox_classes":"","trigger_lightbox_group_classes":"img.inline","trigger_slideshow_classes":"","trigger_lightframe_classes":"","trigger_lightframe_group_classes":"","custom_class_handler":0,"custom_trigger_classes":"","disable_for_gallery_lists":1,"disable_for_acidfree_gallery_lists":true,"enable_acidfree_videos":true,"slideshow_interval":5000,"slideshow_automatic_start":true,"slideshow_automatic_exit":true,"show_play_pause":true,"pause_on_next_click":false,"pause_on_previous_click":true,"loop_slides":false,"iframe_width":600,"iframe_height":400,"iframe_border":1,"enable_video":false,"useragent":"Mozilla\/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit\/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome\/131.0.0.0 Safari\/537.36"},"better_exposed_filters":{"views":{"rightside_features":{"displays":{"rightside_features_block":{"filters":[]}}}}}});</script>  </head> <body class="html not-front not-logged-in one-sidebar sidebar-second page-node page-node- page-node-629 node-type-page i18n-en section-genocide page-panels" >  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-MXD94H" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <p id="skip-link"> <a href="#main-menu" class="element-invisible element-focusable">Jump to navigation</a> </p> <div id="page"> <header class="header" role="banner"> <div id="mict-header"> <div class="grid-wrap"> <div class="region region-mict-header"> <div id="block-block-10" class="block block-block first last odd"> <div class="mict-logo"><a href="http://www.irmct.org" target="_blank"><img class="logo" src="/sites/all/themes/unictr/images/logo-sm.png" /><span>United Nations | International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals</span></a></div> <ul class="mict-menu"><li><a href="http://www.irmct.org/en/about" target="_blank">About the Mechanism</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.irmct.org/en/cases" target="_blank">Cases</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="header-top"> <div class="grid-wrap"> <div class="region region-top"> <div id="block-locale-language-content" class="block block-locale first last odd" role="complementary"> <ul class="language-switcher-locale-url"><li class="en first active"><a href="/en/genocide" class="language-link active" xml:lang="en" title="The Genocide">English</a></li> <li class="fr"><a href="/fr/le-g%C3%A9nocide" class="language-link" xml:lang="fr" title="Le g茅nocide">Fran莽ais</a></li> <li class="rw last"><a href="/rw/jenoside" class="language-link" xml:lang="rw" title="Jenoside">Kinyarwanda</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div id="header"> <div class="grid-wrap"> <script> (function() { var cx = '006629472474029871142:gz1bvhyfv6m'; var gcse = document.createElement('script'); gcse.type = 'text/javascript'; gcse.async = true; gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') + '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s); })(); </script> <form id="search-form" action="/en/search-results" method="get"> <div class="input-group input-group-sm"> <input class="form-control" type="text" name="as_q" placeholder="search"> </div> </form> <a href="/en" title="Home" rel="home" class="header__logo" id="logo"><img src="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/logo.png" alt="Home" class="header__logo-image" /></a> <div class="header__name-and-slogan" id="name-and-slogan"> <h1 class="header__site-name" id="site-name"> <a href="/en" title="Home" class="header__site-link" rel="home"><span>United Nations<br />International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals</span></a> </h1> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div class="header__region region region-header"> <div id="block-block-9" class="block block-block header-disclaimer first last odd"> <p><strong>Legacy website of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda</strong></p> <p>Since the ICTR鈥檚 closure on 31 December 2015, the Mechanism maintains this website as part of its mission to preserve and promote the legacy of the UN International Criminal Tribunals. <a href="http://www.unmict.org">Visit the Mechanism's website</a>.</p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div id="navigation"> <nav id="main-menu" role="navigation" tabindex="-1" class="grid-wrap"> <div class="region region-navigation"> <div id="block-system-main-menu" class="block block-system block-menu first last odd" role="navigation"> <h2 class="block__title block-title">Main menu</h2> <ul class="menu"><li class="menu__item is-leaf first leaf"><a href="/en/tribunal" title="" class="menu__link">About the ICTR</a></li> <li class="menu__item is-leaf is-active-trail leaf active-trail"><a href="/en/genocide" title="" class="menu__link is-active-trail active-trail active">The Genocide</a></li> <li class="menu__item is-leaf leaf"><a href="/en/cases" title="" class="menu__link">The Cases</a></li> <li class="menu__item is-leaf leaf"><a href="/en/documents" title="" class="menu__link">Documents</a></li> <li class="menu__item is-leaf last leaf"><a href="/en/news" class="menu__link">News</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </nav> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div id="main"> <div id="content" class="column" role="main"> <h2 class="element-invisible">You are here</h2><div class="breadcrumb"><a href="/en/home">Home</a></div> <a id="main-content"></a> <h1 class="page__title title" id="page-title">The Genocide</h1> <article class="node-629 node node-page view-mode-full clearfix" about="/en/genocide" typeof="foaf:Document"> <header> <span property="dc:title" content="The Genocide" class="rdf-meta element-hidden"></span> </header> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>On the evening of 6 April 1994, the plane carrying Juvenal Habyarimana, the President of Rwanda, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the President of Burundi, was shot down over Kigali. The assassinations shattered the fragile peace established by the Arusha Accords, brokered in the hope of ending the armed conflict between the Rwandan Patriotic Front and the Rwandan Government.</p> <p>During the 100 bloody days that followed, unimaginable violence overtook the country. Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes were perpetrated on a horrific scale, primarily against Tutsi civilians and moderate Hutus. Soldiers, gendarmes, politicians, <em>Interahamwe </em>and ordinary citizens were amongst the perpetrators.</p> <p>Between eight-hundred thousand and one million men, women and children were massacred by Hutu extremists - a rate of killing four times greater than at the height of the Nazi Holocaust.</p> <p style="margin:0;">聽<span style="font-size: 18px;font-family: 'Cabin',sans-serif; "><a href="#timeline">View Timeline</a></span> - Courtesy of the <a href="http://www.un.org/preventgenocide/rwanda" target="_blank">Outreach Programme on Rwanda and the United Nations.</a></p> <p><a name="timeline" id="timeline"></a></p> </div></div></div> </article> </div> <aside class="sidebars"> <section class="region region-sidebar-second column sidebar"> <div id="block-views-9bf2f1881b1b1a5696b99524d7002020" class="block block-views first last odd"> <div class="view view-rightside-features view-id-rightside_features view-display-id-rightside_features_block rightside-block view-dom-id-1b5fbde0331c3f74a1369352858c09b7"> <div class="view-content"> <div class="views-row-odd views-row-first rightside-unit"> <h2 class="rightside-feature-title"><a href="https://unictr.irmct.org/en/ictr-milestones">ICTR Milestones</a></h2> <a href="https://unictr.irmct.org/en/ictr-milestones"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/styles/medium/public/images/rightside-features/home-ictr-milestones-hp_1.jpg?itok=3M4XHeg4" width="300" height="166" alt="" /></a> </div> <div class="views-row-even views-row-last rightside-unit"> <h2 class="rightside-feature-title"><a href="https://unictr.irmct.org/en/cases/key-figures-cases">Key Figures of Cases</a></h2> <a href="https://unictr.irmct.org/en/cases/key-figures-cases"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://unictr.irmct.org/sites/unictr.org/files/styles/medium/public/images/rightside-features/home-ictr-key-figures-hp_1.jpg?itok=9kvJbjDP" width="300" height="166" alt="" /></a> </div> </div> </div> </div> </section> </aside> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div class="grid-wrap"> <div class="region region-subcontent"> <div id="block-block-4" class="block block-block first last odd"> <div style="border-top: 1px solid #d3d7da"> <p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="650" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline3/latest/embed/index.html?source=1uyyPh-MkFOARtDboVhSugiTsOfm_IsNLpd-_VEpi15U&font=Default&lang=en&initial_zoom=2&height=650" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="100%"></iframe></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="clear"></div> <div class="clear"></div> <footer id="footer" class="region region-footer"> <div class="grid-wrap"> <div id="block-block-2" class="block block-block first last odd"> <ul class="footer-links"><li><a href="http://www.unmict.org/en/contact">Contacts</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.unmict.org/en/terms-and-conditions-use" target="_blank">Terms of Use</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/privacy/" target="_blank">Privacy Notice</a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </footer>  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-N93GKQ" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  </div> </body> </html>