Dangers of failure to punish perpetrators for crimes including of genocide
The total international community’s neglect of the 1972 and 1993 crimes of genocide of Hutu by Tutsi in Burundi is believed to have emboldened the Hutu extremists in Rwanda to commit crimes of genocide against Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda in 1994. The perpetrators of Rwanda genocide thought that the international community would not act as in Burundi. They were wrong. But action against Hutu perpetrators of genocide in Rwanda and omission to act against Tutsi perpetrators of genocide in Burundi in 1972 and 1993 were judged as double standards practiced by the international community including the United Nations. Hutu survivors were forced to take up arms for self-defense resulting in human loss, injuries and displacements and destruction of property, infrastructure and institutions.
In 1994 Gersony submitted a report showing that the Tutsi in the Rwanda Patriotic Front and Army (RPF/A) had committed serious crimes against Hutu that could be classified as crimes of genocide. The Secretary-General of the United Nations acting either alone or under pressure suppressed publication of the report. The massacre or what some have called ‘genocide’ of tens of thousands of Hutu internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Kibeho camp was also ignored by the international community. The failure to punish perpetrators emboldened the hardliners in Rwanda government to commit more crimes and to get rid of moderate voices.