On Sunday, Miracle Corners of the World is hosting a commemoration event in New York on Denial, Memory and Justice in post-genocide Rwanda. Chantal Kayitesi, a founding member and former President of AVEGA, one of our partners, will be speaking alongside the respected academics, Gerald Lewis Caplan and Jens Meierhenrich.

Earlier this week, I met with Redress, a London-based organisation helping survivors obtain justice and reconciliation. Their vital work extends beyond just Rwanda, but its recent publication with African Rights of a report on Survivors and Post-Genocide Justice in Rwanda has proved to be a real landmark in establishing the situation of survivors today. 

As last week’s High Court case preventing the extradition of four genocide suspects proved,  justice – or lack thereof – for survivors is an issue that is also playing out close to home too. Thus SURF’s work, allied with organisations such as Redress and Miracle Corners of the World, continues to be pressing both here in the UK, as well as Rwanda.

SURF helped organise a commemoration at the United Nations in New York which included a Reading of the Testimonies. UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, as well as US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, both spoke on the importance of remembrance and genocide prevention. There are additional Reading of the Testimonies events worldwide, in South Africa, Australia, Mexico and Japan, amongst other countries.

SURF Founder, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, commenting on the BBC World Service reiterated the importance of justice for survivors. Mary’s contribution to supporting survivors was honoured during SURF’s 15th Anniversary commemoration event on Saturday. As well, Reverien Rurangwa, who was due to speak at the event, but was denied a travel visa from Switzerland where he now lives, has been recognised in a cover story in G2 today. His remarkable story of survival is chronicled in Genocide: My Stolen Rwanda, an extract of which was read during the commemoration by his publisher Rosie Whitehouse of Reportage Press.