Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Recognizes Rwanda Genocide, Calls Attention to Int'l Powers, Disparate Responses for Justice to Alike Tamil Genocide.

Sunday, April 7, 2024, marked the 30 th anniversary of the horrendous Rwanda Genocide. In just 100 days, from April 7, 1994 through July 15, 1994, the Hutu majority slaughtered more than 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus.

During this time, the international community, especially the international superpowers, turned a blind eye to the horrific massacre. Furthermore, while the slaughter unfolded; the international powers refused to acknowledge that the ongoing massacre was genocide. It was only after the 100 days that the US referred, what transpired in Rwanda as acts of genocide; and yet was still unwilling to say that these acts constituted the crime of genocide.

In response to this unwillingness, during this US State Department press briefing, one reporter posed the infamous and noteworthy question: “How many acts of genocide does it take to make genocide?” It wasn't until June 10, 1994, that the US State Secretary at the time, Warren Christopher, acknowledged that the slaughter constituted the crime of genocide.

The reason the international powers refused to acknowledge the massacre as genocide was that, under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, such an acknowledgment required intervention.

Supporting this is the fact that Kofi Annan, UN’s Head of Peacekeeping at the time, later said that the Western powers inaction was a policy issue, not lack of knowledge. It is important to note that neither the UN nor the international powers stopped the genocide, but rather the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), an armed Tutsi Group.

▪ EELAM TAMILS:

For Eelam Tamils, as another genocide victim group, it is unavoidable to compare the Rwanda genocide with the Mullivaaikal Tamil genocide. As with the Rwanda genocide, while the Mullivaaikal genocide unfolded, the international powers turned a blind eye. As with the Rwanda genocide, the international powers response to the Mullivaaikal genocide, specifically failing to intervene and refer to it as genocide while it was happening, was a policy issue, not a lack of knowledge.

One crucial difference between the Rwanda genocide and the Mullivaaikal Tamil genocide is that the international powers did not hamper the RPF’s efforts to crush the genocide, while in the case of the Mullivaaikal Tamil genocide, the international powers and the UN enabled the Sri Lankan State to militarily defeat the Tamil resistance group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

To achieve this, the Sri Lankan State manipulated the discourse by claiming that its barbaric acts was a fight against “terrorism”. The international powers accepted this lie and provided arms to the Sri Lankan State Tamil genocide, thereby arguably being complicit of the Mullivaaikal genocide under the Genocide Convention had the international powers not intervened, the LTTE, like the RFP would have stopped the Tamil Genocide.

The TGTE hopes that Nicaragua’s legal initiative against Germany in the International Court of Justice, which alleges that by providing arms to Israel, Germany is complicit of genocide in Gaza, will provide guidelines on this profound issue for future course of actions by victims of genocide around the world.

A Rwanda official recently commented that, with respect to Rwandas actions in Congo, "We don’t need the international community’s permission to protect ourselves”.

As the International Court of Justice noted in the case Nicaragua v US, Article 51 of the UN Charter recognizes the inherent rights of individuals to collective self-defense. Notably, in 2005, the Australian foreign minister at the time, cited the ‘Responsibility to Protect” [R2P] which was the product of the Rwanda genocide, to protect the Tamils. Sadly, the principle of R2P also suffered an early slaughter by the states themselves.

Another crucial difference between the Rwanda genocide and the Mullivaaikal Tamil genocide pertains to justice and accountability. Whereas after the Rwanda genocide, the UN and international powers established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to mete out justice, in the case of the Tamil genocide no international tribunal to mete out justice has been established. In fact, shamefully, there has been no international justice initiative for the Tamil genocide at all.

No referral of Sri Lanka to the International Court of Justice [ICJ] by any of the 153 parties to the Genocide Convention. No referral by the UN Security Council of the political and military leaders of the Sri Lankan State responsible for the Tamil genocide to the International Criminal Court [ICC]. While Sri Lanka has brazenly been standing over the blood of Tamils for the last 15 years, the international powers, for the sake of their own interests, continued to shake Sri Lanka's blood-soaked hands.

The absence of accountability of the Sri Lankan State for the Mullivaaikal Tamil genocide for the last 15 years, coupled with the ongoing Ukraine and Gaza conflicts, both warrants and points to the urgent need for a new victim-centered international order.

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran

Prime Minister

Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)

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