International Commission of Investigation on Human Rights Violations in Rwanda since October 1, 1990

The International Commission of Investigation on Human Rights Violations in Rwanda since October 1, 1990 was an international inquiry that investigated reported human rights abuses during the Rwandan Civil War. Sponsored by four international non-governmental organizations, the commission was not officially mandated by the Rwandan government. Ten commissioners from eight countries spent two weeks in Rwanda visiting prefectures and documenting oral and written accounts, along with exhuming reported locations of mass grave burials. Primarily, the inquiry examined three major massacres that occurred between 1990 and 1992. The commission lasted three months and the final report was released in March 1993. Due to the dates of its investigation, the commission does not cover the Rwandan Genocide, which followed in April 1993.

In its final report, the commission concluded that the Rwandan government was directly responsible for approximately 2,000 civilian deaths, the majority of whom were Tutsi. It held responsible all levels of governmental authority and cited that local officials often led attacks and encouraged Hutu citizens to take part. Most of these officials maintained their job at the time of the report and none had been judicially prosecuted. The report found that the Rwandan judicial system was unable to appropriately deal with matters of justice pertaining to the Civil War, as the courts themselves had been responsible for mass abuses. Rebel forces, called the Rwandan Patriotic Front, was also responsible for kidnapping, expelling, and killing an unspecified number of Rwandan citizens.

Since the nation’s independence from Belgium in 1962, ethnic tensions have been intertwined in Rwanda’s post-colonial history. As the ethnic majority, the first independent government was dominated by Hutu representatives. Over years of political instability and ethnic oppression, hundreds of thousands of Tutsi refugees fled to neighbouring countries, namely Burundi and Uganda. It was among the Tutsi refugees that the political organization Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) eventually found its genesis. By 1987, the RPF perceived a return to Rwanda would only be successful through armed action. On October 1, 1990, the RPF crossed the border and launched an attack on Rwandan soil. In response, the Hutu-dominated government, led by President Juvénal Habyarimana, launched counterattacks on the “Tutsi threat.” The country was thrust into three years of civil war that saw both government and guerrilla forces commit mass atrocities. A ceasefire was reached in July 1992 and by August 1993, the Arusha Accords were signed to signify the end of civil conflict and the intended creation of a power-sharing government.

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