IRCT [to 19 April 2014]

News
IRCT mark 20th anniversary of Rwandan Genocide with stories from survivors
07-04-2014
In 100 days, over 800,000 people were killed for being part of a different ethnic community. On numbers and timescale alone, the 1994 Rwandan genocide remains the largest of modern times.
But it is not just numbers – behind the numbers are people who lost their lives, their homes, their loved ones, and more. They were victims of the military forces but also of their neighbours, ordinary citizens. Twenty-years later, the effects are still being felt across the country.

Among those who suffered the most, are the women who were victims of sexual violence. To highlight the voices of those women, the IRCT is launching the campaign ‘Of death and rebirth: Life histories of Rwandan female genocide survivors’ which follows the progress of 10 women as they go through rehabilitation.

The women – who have all participated in psychotherapy treatment to overcome the trauma from torture – tell of a range of experiences both hard-hitting an horrifying, but also hopeful. But they all share one common theme: rehabilitation from torture works.

Triggered by the death of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was brought down by a rocket on 6 April 1994, hours of violence and protest quickly transformed into three months of terror.

Most of the dead during this time were Tutsis, the bulk of whom were killed by the Hutu majority.
The effects of the Rwandan genocide were not just confined to the country though, and the presence of Hutu forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo led to years of conflict there, with some estimates claiming five-million people have been killed.

Today, the tensions still remain apparent. However, some progress has been made in providing hope to victims of torture in the 1994 genocide.
The first story will be published in a special section of the IRCT website where a new story will feature every 10 days thereafter.

.

Retweeted by IRCT
WorldWithoutTorture ‏@withouttorture Apr 15
New blog: We hear from three doctors from @IRCT partner PCATI about their work and what inspired them to end #torture http://wp.me/p1FGNE-yu