For the first time in history,  Members of the German Parliament, the Bundestag, celebrated an Agreed Debate on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi on Thursday 11th April, in Berlin.

Ambassador Igor CESAR took part in the Debate along with First Secretary Gildas Mukunde. Members of the children's aid organization Ora Kinderhilfe International ev. also were present during the 163th session of the German Bundestag.

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Alliance 90/The Greens) emphasized that the international community had looked the other way in Rwanda and thus failed. Germany also commented on the massacre with “unmistakable racist undertones,” “as if it didn’t concern us, as if it wasn’t about people.” 

The painful truth is that there were alarm signals long before April 1994 that were not responded to. “For us, for me as German Foreign Minister, the big lesson from Rwanda is that we bear responsibility – for our actions as well as for our inaction.” This lesson contributed to a change in awareness in Germany; It was understood that we had to work for a world governed by the rule of law.

 From April to June 1994, under the eyes of the world and in the presence of a largely powerless United Nations mission, around one million people were murdered in the Central African country, the majority of whom were Tutsi. The 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide was the focus of the Agreed Debate on Thursday, April 11, 2024 in the Bundestag.