It has been 21 years since the tragic Gatumba massacre, yet the voices of the victims and survivors are still crying out for justice. A new petition has now reached the United Nations Security Council, asking for the case to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) under Article 13(b) of the Rome Statute.
The petition was filed by Cradle for Human Rights and Peacebuilding (CHRP), an organization led by Advocate Claude Gasita Mutorero. The letter was addressed to His Excellency Ambassador Eloy Alfaro de Alba, the President of the UN Security Council, and copied to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the UN Human Rights Office in Geneva, and the UN Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region.
The petition reminds the world of what happened on the night of August 13, 2004, at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi. Armed men stormed the camp and carried out a horrific attack that left 166 civilians dead, most of them women and children. Another 106 people were severely wounded. The victims were targeted simply because they were Congolese Tutsi, also known as Banyamulenge.
Reports from the United Nations and Human Rights Watch documented the killings, describing them as brutal, systematic, and motivated by ethnic hatred. The Gatumba refugee camp was under the official protection of both the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the government of Burundi, yet the attack still happened.
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For the survivors and families, this was not only a massacre but also a betrayal. Refugees who were supposed to be under international protection were abandoned to their killers. The petition calls this a serious breach of international obligations and a stain on humanity’s conscience.
The petition further explains that the Gatumba massacre clearly meets the legal definitions of both genocide and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute. The attackers deliberately targeted Banyamulenge civilians because of their ethnic identity. The killings were not random acts of violence but were planned, coordinated, and meant to destroy a community.
According to international law, genocide is defined as the intent to destroy a group in whole or in part. The Gatumba massacre fits this description, as it was designed to terrorize and destroy the Banyamulenge community. In addition, the widespread and systematic killings meet the criteria for crimes against humanity.
At the time of the massacre, Burundi was not yet a member of the ICC. The country ratified the Rome Statute a month later, in September 2004, but it later withdrew from the court in 2017. This makes direct ICC jurisdiction complicated. However, the petition argues that the UN Security Council has the power to refer the case to the ICC under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, making justice possible even today.
The urgency of this petition comes from the fact that 21 years have already passed without justice. A case that was opened in Burundi in 2013 stopped in 2014 and has never been reopened. No one has ever been held accountable. Survivors remain traumatized, families remain broken, and the killers remain free.
This silence and impunity have dangerous consequences. The petition warns that failure to bring justice for Gatumba has encouraged more ethnic violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and across the Great Lakes region. Without accountability, the cycle of bloodshed continues.
Advocate Claude Gasita Mutorero and CHRP argue that justice is not only a moral responsibility but also a safeguard for peace. If the UN Security Council refers the Gatumba case to the ICC, it would send a strong message that impunity will no longer be tolerated. It would also give survivors and victims’ families a chance for healing and closure.
The petition urges the Security Council to recognize the Gatumba massacre as a threat to international peace and security, to adopt a resolution under Chapter VII, and to make the referral to the ICC under Article 13(b).
The Gatumba massacre is described as one of the darkest moments in the region’s history. It is remembered as an atrocity that shocked the world but has since been buried in silence. Survivors continue to ask: How long must we wait for justice?
The petition highlights that the international community has a solemn duty to protect human dignity. Allowing the Gatumba massacre to go unpunished would mean abandoning this duty and betraying the victims once again.
The blood of 166 innocent people cries out from Gatumba. Their lives should not be forgotten, and their deaths should not be meaningless. Justice delayed is justice denied, but justice is still possible.
The world has seen how impunity fuels more wars and genocides. From Rwanda to Darfur, from the Congo to Syria, when crimes against humanity are ignored, new ones are born. Gatumba is not just a memory of the past; it is a warning for the future.
The survivors are not asking for pity. They are asking for truth, for justice, and for accountability. They are asking the world not to bury Gatumba in silence but to bring its case before the ICC, where it belongs.
Every year, the Banyamulenge community remembers the massacre. They hold the commemoration ceremony for more than 150 people who died in the Gatumba massacre, light candles, and mourn their loved ones. But they also keep hope alive that someday the killers will face justice. This petition is their latest attempt to make that hope real.
As the Security Council receives this petition, the world is watching. Will the UN act, or will it once again allow politics to silence justice? The answer will not only determine the fate of Gatumba’s victims but also the credibility of international justice.
The Gatumba massacre is more than a tragedy of the past. It is a test of our humanity today.
