ICRC's commemoration of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

26-04-2004

From 7 April to mid-July 1994, between 500,000 and one million people in Rwanda were slaughtered in a genocide that took place against a background of civil war. In April 2004 the government and people of Rwanda, and with them the international community, are commemorating these tragic events. The ICRC, which remained present in the country throughout those terrible months, is sharing in these days of mourning.

©CICR/Josué Anselmo

Rwanda 1994: a "drop of humanity in an ocean of horror"

The gruesome statistics can never reflect the full horror of what this country and its people endured during those 100 days. Today, more than ever before, we have a duty to remember, and to continue stressing the importance of respecting others: for only by respecting others can we move beyond slogans and ensure that human dignity is truly protected.

Out of respect for the dead and the survivors, the ICRC does not wish to use these days of recollection to its own advantage or to appropriate them to itself: they belong first and foremost to the Rwandan people. That is why the documents on this site focus first and foremost on the suffering they endured.

These materials also seek to show the difficulties and limits inherent to humanitarian action in such circumstances and to draw attention to the many acts of solidarity that did take place, demonstrating the compassion and empathy without which humanitarian work would lose all meaning.

The main purpose of these pages is to illustrate that “drop of humanity in an ocean of horror” which is the raison d’être of all humanitarian action.

First-person account by Philippe Gaillard, the ICRC's head of delegation in Rwanda in 1994

Audio interview - three questions to Philippe Gaillard

Photo gallery: days of horror, moments of hope

Legal background on the issue of genocide

"Preventing Genocide" – speech by the President of the ICRC, Stockholm, 2004