The African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council will on Wednesday discuss a collective measures by Africa and stakeholders to combat the ideology of hate, genocide and hate crimes ahead of the 25th commemoration of the mass slaughter of Tutsis on 7 April, a diplomatic source confirmed in Kigali.
Reports indicate that genocidal ideologies make genocide possible by dichotomizing people into categories, demonizing and dehumanizing them, and denying any form of group destruction.
Since July 2018, Rwanda has passed a law criminalizing “genocide ideology” and providing for its punishment.
The law stipulates punishments for crimes that include genocide ideology, denial of genocide, minimization of genocide, and justification of genocide, which attract a term of imprisonment of not less than two years but not exceeding four years, with a heavy fine for each count.
Under the above law, causing disappearance or degradation of evidence of genocide is also a crime under this law and it attracts a term of imprisonment of not less than five years.
In addition, stealing or destroying the bodies of victims of genocide and demolishing, damaging, or desecrating a memorial site or a place where the bodies of genocide victims are laid to rest are also crimes under this law and they attract tougher penalties.
Another crime that has been stipulated in the law is violence against a survivor of genocide, which attracts a term of imprisonment of not less than five years but which does not exceed nine years, it said.
CU/as/APA