Majority of the youth in Rwanda were born after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, thus they did not witness the atrocities that took place in Rwanda during that time. Peace Education Initiative Rwanda focuses on teaching young Rwandans human rights, genocide studies, peace education, and tolerance to build a peaceful future. We target to build a society that understands the consequences of genocide by focusing on preventing man inhumanity to man. We believe that peace building education and teaching youth how to prevent Genocide and mass atrocities are crucial in making a brighter future.
In July 2020, Peace Education Initiative Rwanda delivered training to its 48 youth beneficiaries in the Rukara sector about genocide prevention, universal declaration of human rights, and peace building. On genocide prevention, the youth understood how genocide occurs and learned to recognize signs that could lead to genocide to stop it before it happens. Genocide prevention lessons help the youth to refuse any manipulation or genocide ideology from anyone. They learn to focus on unity and economic development of themselves as individuals and play key roles in the development of the country at large. The youth were called upon the youth to use their critical thinking to make the right decisions in preventing genocide.
Again, Peace Education Initiative Rwanda values the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its contribution to building peace. So, it incorporated human rights in its training to youth. Human rights are already established; people need to know them and exercise them for their good and betterment of their colleagues; thus every person knows that every human being has the right to live, there will be no more murder. Therefore, the youth understood that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. They also learned that no one shall be held in slavery, subjected to torture.
All the sessions left the youth with a burning desire to prevent genocide and set an example in the community to build a unified society. Following this training, Youth clubs affiliated to Peace Education Rwanda joined together in a community work at Rukara District’s Genocide Memorial. They came together to clean up the memorial and pay homage to the victims of the genocide. Youth members aspire to make more initiatives and actions in the future that contribute to the bigger cause of a country free from divisions and genocide ideology.
All in all, the youth promised to abide by human rights and share the skills with others to build peace in their communities. Again, they understood their roles in making a better future; full of peace, wealth, and respect for human rights.