The United Nations Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted resolution (2150) in which it called on all states to renew their commitment to prevent and fight against genocide and other serious crimes under international law.
Through the resolution, the Council also called upon States that had not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to consider doing so as a matter of high priority.
The Council, presently under the presidency of Nigeria, was marking the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General, described the genocide in Rwanda as one of the "darkest chapters in human history" and said the world remembered with heavy hearts the international community's collective failure to recognize and act on the warning signs of genocide.
"We must do more as a community of nations and as global citizens if we are going to live up to the promise of 'never again' and act upon our collective responsibility to protect," he said.
Rwanda's UN Ambassador, Eugene-Richard Gasana, told the council that “the systematic slaughter of men, women and children was perpetrated in full view of the international community.”
“The genocide against the Tutsi highlighted the extent to which the UN methods of prevention utterly failed,” he said, adding that the “horrific” scenes from Central African Republic, Syria and South Sudan today shows that the U.N. still has a long way to go.
Jordan's UN Ambassador, Prince Zeid al Hussein, asked his fellow council members, if they had learned anything from the Rwanda genocide, and what words they would use that would be “immune to the inevitable mockery, the cynical laughter” of the people of the CAR whose relatives had been killed there in ongoing fighting.
Through the resolution, the Council also called upon States that had not yet ratified or acceded to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide to consider doing so as a matter of high priority.
The Council, presently under the presidency of Nigeria, was marking the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
Jan Eliasson, Deputy Secretary-General, described the genocide in Rwanda as one of the "darkest chapters in human history" and said the world remembered with heavy hearts the international community's collective failure to recognize and act on the warning signs of genocide.
"We must do more as a community of nations and as global citizens if we are going to live up to the promise of 'never again' and act upon our collective responsibility to protect," he said.
Rwanda's UN Ambassador, Eugene-Richard Gasana, told the council that “the systematic slaughter of men, women and children was perpetrated in full view of the international community.”
“The genocide against the Tutsi highlighted the extent to which the UN methods of prevention utterly failed,” he said, adding that the “horrific” scenes from Central African Republic, Syria and South Sudan today shows that the U.N. still has a long way to go.
Jordan's UN Ambassador, Prince Zeid al Hussein, asked his fellow council members, if they had learned anything from the Rwanda genocide, and what words they would use that would be “immune to the inevitable mockery, the cynical laughter” of the people of the CAR whose relatives had been killed there in ongoing fighting.