Rwanda: Genocide Survivors Urge Australia's Griffith University to Disassociate With Judi Rever

Genocide survivors' organisations from Rwanda and across the diaspora have called on Australia's Griffith University to sever any association with Judi Rever, a Canadian author and journalist known for promoting narratives that distort and deny the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The appeal comes ahead of a public lecture scheduled for Friday, June 19. in Brisbane, where Rever is expected to speak.

In a on June 18 letter addressed to the university's Vice-Chancellor and President, survivors' groups led by IBUKA Australia raises concerns about Griffith University's association with Association RAQ Inc. and Canadian author Judi Rever, alleging that narratives promoted by the two parties distort, deny and trivialise the Genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed more than one million.

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The letter was issued on behalf of several survivor organisations, including IBUKA, Survivors Fund (SURF), Never Again Rwanda, the Ishami Foundation, and survivor communities across Africa, Europe, North America and the wider diaspora.

In their letter, the survivors noted that the Genocide against the Tutsi is an established historical and legal fact that should not be treated as a matter of academic debate.

"The Genocide Against the Tutsi has been conclusively established through the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly, the findings of independent historians and genocide scholars, and the testimonies of hundreds of thousands of survivors," the letter states.

"It is a matter of settled international law, historical fact, and profound human truth."

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Survivors warned that denialist and revisionist narratives such as those promoted by Rever continue to inflict harm on those who lived through the atrocities and on families who lost loved ones during the Genocide.

"For those of us who survived, who lost everything, and who have spent decades rebuilding our lives and communities, genocide denial is not an abstract academic question. It is a continuing act of violence," the letter said.

According to the letter, narratives that deny or distort the genocide re-traumatise survivors, embolden perpetrators and their sympathisers, and undermine efforts to preserve historical truth for future generations.

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The organisations further argued that when academic institutions provide platforms or institutional legitimacy to individuals who promote such narratives, it sends a damaging message to survivors and affected communities.

The survivors called on Griffith University to undertake what they as a transparent and independent review of any institutional associations, sponsorships, endorsements or support involving Rever and Association RAQ Inc.

They also urged the university to publicly affirm the historical and legal reality of the Genocide against the Tutsi and to withdraw any institutional support from individuals or organisations accused of denying, distorting, relativising or trivialising the genocide.

In addition, the groups requested that the university engage with survivor organisations, genocide scholars and human rights organisations before hosting or supporting future events related to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The letter also called on the university to adopt and publish a policy prohibiting the promotion of genocide denial or revisionism under its banner.

"Griffith University has built its reputation on principles of equity, inclusion, social justice, and the pursuit of truth. We do not believe these values are compatible with providing institutional legitimacy to genocide denial," the survivors said in the letter.

The organisations requested a formal written response from the university within 21 days.