The Czech Republic on the UN Security Council. Genocide of Rwanda, 1994

Abstract

In 1994, the Czech Republic sat for her first year on the UN Security Council,
as a non-permanent member. Straightaway, in January of that year, the
Czech Ambassador - the author of this paper - served as the Council's
President. From that point on, the problems - and a few months later, the
genocide - of Rwanda become a preoccupation of the UNSC for the entire
year. Throughout this time, the Czech delegation did its best to mobilize the
UNSC against the unfolding genocide. It was indeed the first delegation to
use that term, very deliberately, in any UN public, formal forum. In
following, often blow by blow, the twists and turns of the UNSC's deliberations, the author draws on official documents but also on almost
daily reports his delegation was sending to Prague, and on his personal
recollections. These sources have never been used before.