Thirty years after the genocide of the Tutsi, which led to the systematic annihilation of 1, 000, 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, in about four months as the rest of the world stood by and watched, Rwanda has become the success story that no one envisioned. Rwanda currently ranks in the top 10 safest countries in the world, with a 73.2% safety index, positioned as Africa’s fourth most attractive investment destination, according to the Africa Report in 2021, and is the third least corrupt country in the global corruption perception index.
However, Rwanda still grapples with detractors, and for the last 30 years, is the only country in the world, that has criminalised the denial of the Rwandan genocide. Although, the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda has since its inception in 1994, indicted 93 people, resulting in 61 convictions and 14 acquittals, and is the first-ever international tribunal to deliver verdicts concerning genocide, the first to interpret the definition of genocide outlined in the 1948 Geneva Convention, the first international tribunal to define rape in international criminal law and to recognise rape as a means of perpetrating genocide, and the first international tribunal to hold members of the media responsible for broadcasts intended to inflame the public to commit acts of genocide.
