Homs, Syria, 2012. Flickr/Freedom House. Some rights reserved.Two years ago, I was working in Rwanda to assist with the twentieth commemoration of the 1994 genocide. The anniversary was marked around the world at Rwandan embassies, by foreign parliaments, and at the United Nations. In Rwanda’s capital Kigali, I watched as heads of state, ambassadors and other leading representatives of the world paid tribute to the victims and survivors, and committed to ‘learning lessons’.
Today, 7 April 2016, marks the twenty-second anniversary of the genocide, and I can’t help but reflect upon those heartfelt promises.
I work in a small sector dedicated to preventing mass atrocity crimes and protecting people from that threat. Despite the scale of the challenge, usually I’m hopeful and positive. When people ask why I do what I do, I tell them to look back fifty or even twenty years, and consider the progress that has been made in understanding our shared responsibility to defend the rights of others. I tell them that I believe great things can be achieved by a small group of committed individuals and organisations.
