Reconciliation after the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda

In 30 short years since one of the most devastating mass atrocities in history, Rwanda has made remarkable strides, offering lessons in post-conflict recovery for the rest of the world. The 1994 genocide against the Tutsi left the country in shambles and its social fabric shredded. While challenges remain and wounds run deep, against all odds, genocide survivors, former perpetrators, returned refugees, and ex-combatants now live side by side, forging a shared national identity. Many civil society, faith-based, and government programs have contributed to this success, but none would have been possible without the remarkable courage of individual Rwandans: former perpetrators who confessed to unthinkable crimes and the survivors who dared to listen to them, to see them as fellow human beings, brainwashed by lies, manipulated by fear. Rosette Sebasoni, a genocide survivor herself, will speak to the challenges of the reconciliation process and its potential. For the past year, she has been collecting stories of reconciliation between ex-perpetrators and the families they harmed that will be published as a book in 2025, co-edited by Olivia Stokes Dreier.