Developments in the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide after Rwanda: Actors, Approaches and Challenges

• Citation: (2023) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2023/a1
• Published date: 17 June 2025
• Pages: 1-19
• Author: Mushoriwa, L.
• Date: 17 June 2025

1

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE

PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT

OF GENOCIDE AFTER RWANDA:

ACTORS, APPROACHES AND

CHALLENGES

Linda Mushoriwa* & John-Mark Iyi**

Abstract

In May 2024, the African Centre for Transnational Crimin al Justice hosted a

conference to commemorate the 30th a nniversary of the genocide against th e

Tutsis in Rwanda and the legal developments that have occ urred since then. In

line with the theme of the conference, ‘Ge nocides as Critical Junctures: in Search

of an African Vision of Inter national Criminal Justice’, 35 conference participa nts

presented their papers on th e different thematic areas. T his introductory ar ticle

provides an overv iew of the papers that were selected for pu blication in this

issue of the African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law (AYI HL).

The article begins w ith a brief background of the histo ry of genocide in colonial

Africa, from the Here ro and Nama genocide committed b y Germany betwee n

1904 and 1908 to the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994. It then

outlines the issues addressed in the selec ted papers in this issue of AYI HL, such

as the denition and inte rpretation of the term ‘genocid e’, accountability for

aiding and abetting the c rime of genocide, and the role of transit ional justice

mechanisms as genocide p revention tools. The art icle concludes that the issues

addressed call into question the commit ment by various role players, including

the regional economic communit ies and regional organisations, such as the

African Union, to prevent an d punish genocide.

Keywor ds: genocide, Rwanda, prevention and punishment, den ition

and interpretation, accountability, aiding and abetting, role of

transitional justice mechanisms, IGAD

https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2023/a1

* Dr Linda Mushoriwa is a Res earcher at the Afr ican Centre for Transnational

Criminal Ju stice, Faculty of Law, University of the Wester n Cape (Email:

lmushoriwa@uwc.ac.za). ORCID 0000-0003-0726-8969.

** Professor and Dire ctor, African Cent re for Transnational Crimi nal Justice,

Faculty of Law, University of the Wester n Cape (Email: jiy i@uwc.ac.za).

ORCID 0000-0001-9534-1649.

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(2023) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law 1

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2 AFRICAN YEARBOOK ON INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2023/a1

1 INTRODUCTION

The African continent witnessed many episodes of genocides during

the 20th centur y, often at the hands of European colonisers. There is a

consensus that the Nama and Herero genocide committed by G ermany

between 1904 and 1908 was the rst instance of genocide in the

20th century.1 This was followed by other instances, including the

killing of millions of Africans under Belgian colonial rule in Congo,2

and the killing of about 100 0 00 Kikuyus in Kenya by the Briti sh during

the Mau Mau rebellion between 1952 and 1960.3 On the contrary, the

perpetrators of the genocides that post-colonial Af rica witnessed in the

second half of the 20th century were local actors. These included the

genocide against the Igbos during the Biafran War (also known as the

Nigerian Civil War) in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970;4 the genocide against

the Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994,5 and the ‘genocide’ against Darfurians

in Sudan in 2003.6 In t he aftermath of World War II, the international

community unani mously adopted the United Nations (UN) Convention

on the Prevention and Punishment of the Cri me of Genocide (Genocide

Convention).7 The codication of the crime of genocide through the

Genocide Convention was an attempt by the international community

to ensure that the atrocities committed during the Holocaust would

‘never again’ be allowed to recur.8

1 Robert G Weisbord ‘The King, t he Cardinal and the Pope: Le opold II’s genocide

in the Congo and the Vatican”, (2003) 5:1 Journal of Genocide Resea rch 35–45.

2 Mutoy Mubiala ‘Addressing colonial wrongs in the Great La kes region of Africa’

In Morten Bergsmo, Wolfgang Ka leck and Kyaw Yin Hlaing (eds) Colonial

Wrongs and Access to Internation al Law Torkel Opsahl (2020) 431–497, 448.

3 Juliana Appiah, Roland Mirek u Yeboah and Akosu a Asah-Asante ‘Architecture

of denial: Imper ial violence, the construction of law and hi storical knowledge

during the Mau Mau upri sing, 1952–1960’ (2022) 14 African Jou rnal of Legal

Studies 3 –27.

4 See generally Lasse Heer ten and A Dirk Moses ‘The Nige ria–Biafr a war:

Postcolonial conict a nd the question of genocide’ (2014) 16 Journal of Genocide

Research 169–2 03.

5 Giorg ia Dona ‘“Situated Bystande rship” during and af ter the Rwandan genocide’

(2018) 2 0:1 Jour nal of Genocide Research 1–19; Gerard Pr unier The Rwandan Crisis:

History of a Genoci de (1997).

6 G erard Prunier Darf ur: The Ambiguous Genocide (2 010).

7 Un ited Nations Convention on the Prevention and Pun ishment of the Crime of

Genocide, adopted 9 Dece mber 1948, and entry into force 12 January 1951.

8 A nna Duke ‘Never A gain: Fulll ing A Promise’ Th e University of Chicago Pozen

Centre for Human Rights (23 Janua ry 2019), available at .

uchicago.edu/news/2019/1/never-again-fulfilling-a-promise-by-anna-duke>

(accessed on 6 March 2025).

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