HR/98/29
23 April 1998


Following is a statement by United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson:

I was deeply disturbed, and even shocked, to learn that the Government of Rwanda intends to execute, by firing squad and in public, more than 20 persons found guilty of participation in the 1994 genocide. While condemning the genocide in the strongest terms, I appeal to the Government to reconsider this decision which, I believe, will have a negative impact on the process of reconciliation in the country.

Various organisations monitored many of the trials that resulted in the conviction and sentencing of those now to be executed. Their reports indicated that a significant number of these proceedings involved substantive and procedural irregularities and violations of various provisions of international and/or domestic law protecting the defendant and ensuring fair trial.

To proceed with the execution of these people would, I believe, violate international standards. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Rwanda is a party, explicitly states that capital sentences may only be pronounced after trials in which all guarantees of due process were scrupulously observed. Executions carried out after unfair trials clearly violate the universal right to life. The 1984 Safeguards Guaranteeing Protection of the Rights of Those Facing the Death Penalty passed by ECOSOC state that "Capital punishment may be imposed only when the guilt of the person charged is based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts."

Further, I am concerned that the public nature of the proposed executions will have a brutalizing effect on a population already traumatised by the genocide of 1994 and the continuing insecurity in the country. Such public killings could promote feelings of revenge rather than contribute to the process of national reconciliation.

My Office remains committed to working with the Government and the people of Rwanda to improve understanding of and respect for human rights; to strengthen the functioning of the judicial system and to support any other measures which could contribute to national reconciliation and reconstruction.