Alison Des Forges — Presente
Des Forges was senior advisor to Human Rights Watch's Africa division for almost twenty years.
Alison Des Forges, human rights activist and world's foremost expert on Rwanda, died in New York plane crash from Newark to Buffalo on February 12, 2009.
Kenneth Roth, Exec. Dir., Human Rights Watch: Des Forges was "truly wonderful, the epitome of the human rights activist - principled, dispassionate, committed to the truth and to using that truth to protect ordinary people. She was among the first to highlight the ethnic tensions that led to the genocide, and when it happened and the world stood by and watched, Alison did everything humanly possible to save people. Then she wrote the definitive account. There was no one who knew more and did more to document the genocide and to help bring the perpetrators to justice."
Ms. Des Forges testified as an expert witness at 11 genocide trials at the tribunal based in Arush, Tanzania.
But the murder of unarmed children, women and men did not end. This time the victims were Hutu civilians -- 30,000 -- killed by Tutsi forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front that formed a new government in Kigali. This was an unpopular story in 1994. Human rights advocates now denounced her for reporting on Tutsi atrocities against Hutus. She was literally shouted down at speaking engagements in Europe. According to the Washington Post, the Clinton administration, traumatized by the genocide and shamed by their failure to stop it, gave the new Tutsi government a pass on its abuses against Hutu civilians.
Des Forges asked, "Where do we cross the line in order to call genocide by its right name? Is it 500,000, 800,000 that must die before we use the word 'genocide'?" Some want to say that this genocide is the result of age-old hatreds, tribal warfare... but no, it was done systematically, by a definite recognizable group and the international community could have and should have intervened. But they did not.
Des Forges also brought Bill Clinton to task by exposing him when he stated that the cries of the Rwandans had not penetrated the White House. Des Forges said "that is simply not true. The Pentagon and the White House knew." This has been validated by the recent release of Pentagon documents.
A mere 5 feet tall, Alison Des Forges was mighty in word, deed and principles. The ordinary people of Rwanda and the world will miss Alison Des Forges and her stand for justice. As MCLI and others continue the struggle for human rights, her examples should remind us that reporting, testifying, exposing, and shaming the perpetrators of genocide and/or crimes against humanity empowers all those engaged in the cause of justice.
by Victoria Sawicki Whose friend worked closely with Alison Des Forges