Monique Mujawamariya

Rwandan Human Rights Activist in 2011

Hon. Dr. Monique Mujawamariya (born 27 July 1955) is a Rwandan human rights activist who moved to Canada and then South Africa. She was a survivor of the 1994 Genocide Against Tusti and she won an international award in 1995. In 2014 she was living in South Africa where she is concerned with women's rights.

On the 6 April 1994, the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana died when his aircraft was shot down and this event immediately preceded what was to be known as the Rwandan genocide in which an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 people are thought to have died. Mujawamariya was a targeted figure in Kigali, where Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines called her a "bad patriot who deserves to die". She was in communication with Alison Des Forges every 30 minutes because of this threat and the aircrash. Des Forges was a member of Human Rights Watch and she was told to look after her children when Mujawamariya ended the call to avoid her friend hearing her die. As it was, Mujawamariya survived.

Mujawamariya managed to escape by running into her garden until the soldiers left. She then hid in a roof space for 40 hours before brazenly approaching the soldiers armed only with a picture of her late husband in uniform. After she had paid a substantial bribe, she was able to escape and contact Des Forges. Des Forges arranged for her to be put on a list for evacuation, and she escorted Mujawamariya through the soldiers who surrounded the airport. Mujawamariya escaped, having sent her children to the south of the country. Weeks later, she still did not know what had happened to her three children.

Mujawamariya was able to fly to Washington, where she met Anthony Lake who was an advisor to President Clinton. She had been amongst a group who had met Clinton the previous December. However, there was little sympathy as it was judged that Rwanda, and its problems, were outside of America's national interest.

She was awarded the Democracy Award from the National Endowment for Democracy in 1995, and the same year she was given an honorary doctorate by Amherst College.

Mujawamariya now (2014) lives in Cape Town where she works on issues relating to women's rights. She returned to Rwanda to attend her son William's wedding in 2014.

Quotes

• Please, don’t forget the Rwandans who are left behind.
  • Human rights activist Monique Mujawamariya, arriving in Montreal after a harrowing escape from Rwanda, brought an urgent message Montreal Gazette (April 19, 1994)
• When the events in Rwanda in April 1994 plunged toward genocide, I was really discouraged and despairing, because I found that universal rights were a real issue.
• (fr) Quand les événements au Rwanda en avril 1994 se sont précipités vers le génocide, j’étais vraiment découragée, désespérée, parce que je trouvais que l’universalité des droits c’était une topique réelle.
  • Monique Mujawamariya, Genocide Survivor United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Concerning Rwanda, I realized that someone who comes from a poor country has no rights, from the point of view of humanity, of society, of the international community, because all the interventions, all hopes of aid were based on [national] interests, not on human compassion.
• (fr) Concernant Rwanda, je me suis rendu compte que quand on vient d’un pays pauvre, on n’a aucun droit au point de vue de l’humanité, de la société, de la communauté internationale, parce que toutes les interventions, tous les espoirs d’être aidé sont guidés par des intérêts, mais pas par l’humanité.
  • Monique Mujawamariya, Genocide Survivor United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• As human beings, we [Rwandans] are not worth much, because we have under our soil no great wealth that the great powers covet, so we do not have commercial value.
• (fr) En tant qu’humains, nous ne valons pas grand-chose, car nous n’avons pas de grandes richesses au sous-sol que les grandes puissances convoitent, qu’on n’a pas réellement une valeur marchande.
  • Monique Mujawamariya, Genocide Survivor United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Human compassion has been replaced by commercial value, and Rwanda was abandoned because the country had no commercial value.
• (fr) L’humanité a été remplacée par une valeur marchande et Rwanda a été abandonné parce qu’il n’avait pas de valeur marchande.
  • Monique Mujawamariya, Genocide Survivor United States Holocaust Memorial Museum