Responsable mais pas coupable ? Retour sur les notions de responsabilité et de complicité de la France dans le génocide des Tutsis au Rwanda du point de vue du droit international

Depaigne, Vincent

Septembre 2022

20220901

Doctrine

Responsable mais pas coupable ? Retour sur les notions de responsabilité et de complicité de la France dans le génocide des Tutsis au Rwanda du point de vue du droit international

Revue de droit international et de droit comparé, 2022, n° 3

ResponsableMaisPasCoupableDepaigneRevDrIntEtComp092022.pdf

765574 bytes

75

Rev. dr. Int. et comp.

Article de revue

FR

The purpose of this article is to re-examine the question of France's complicity in the genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda under international law, based in particular on the 2021 ‘Duclert report' and the 1998 report of the Parliamentary Mission on the role of France in Rwanda between 1990 and 1994. The article first reviews the notions of responsibility and complicity in international law, in the light of the case law of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Court of Justice. The article looks, in particular, into the International Court of Justice case Bosnia v. Serbia where the Court has adopted a restrictive view of the notion of complicity but has also established an obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. Then, the article examines in detail the Duclert and Parliament reports. Even if France was not present on the ground between April and June 1994 and supported the Arusha peace accords of August 1993, France had, through its military presence between 1990 and 1993, a significant if not decisive capacity to act, influence and knowledge of the crimes committed against the Tutsi during this period. Moreover, during ‘Operation Turquoise' between June and August 1994, France did not act to fulfill its obligation to punish the perpetrators of genocide.