Genocide Memorial Day is a public holiday in Rwanda on April 7 yearly. The holiday marks the start of the 1994 genocide, which occurred between April 7 and July 15, 1994, about 100 days during the Rwandan Civil War.
It is estimated that about a million people were killed in the 1994 genocide, most of them Tutsi, by the Hutu extremist-led armed militias. Many Hutu and other minority ethnic groups who opposed the massacres were also killed.
The scale and brutality of the genocide shocked worldwide, but no country directly intervened to stop the killings forcefully. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) captured the government territory and ended the genocide on July 15, 1994.
Following the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) victory, the leaders of the former Rwandan government, mostly Hutu, were exiled, and about two million Hutu fled to refugee camps in neighboring countries.
The following is the list of Genocide Memorial Day in Rwanda from 2022 to 2026.
| Holiday | Date | Weekday |
|---|---|---|
| Genocide Memorial Day | Apr 07, 2022 | Thursday |
| Genocide Memorial Day | Apr 07, 2023 | Friday |
| Genocide Memorial Day | Apr 07, 2024 | Sunday |
| Genocide Memorial Day | Apr 07, 2025 | Monday |
| Genocide Memorial Day | Apr 07, 2026 | Tuesday |
Please check more public holidays in Rwanda: