The Never Again ‘Rwanda Project’ is a collaborative effort that brings together students from Rwanda, Europe and North America. The team will meet in Rwanda for the first two weeks of August as part of a project to learn about, remember and bring international attention to the 1994 genocide. The group will work with existing Rwandan organisations to research different aspects of the genocide and the country's continuing path towards reconciliation. Individual students will work with a Rwandan partner to research topics that vary from the progress of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to an examination of reconciliation in primacy and secondary education.

The project is being organised by members of Never Again, an international student network founded at the Institute for International Mediation and Conflict Resolution's 2001 Symposium at The Hague. Through youth, Never Again aims to alert the international community to both the causes and effects of genocide and facilitate the exchange of ideas between those who have lived through genocide and those who wish to learn from them. As well as publishing a collection of our findings, Never Again will compile oral and written testimonials that will be included in university and national archives.

‘Never Again’ – An international commitment or a rhetorical sound bite? Why doesn’t the international community act to prevent genocide? It is universally recognized that genocide is a crime against humanity. However, in 1994 while the world was still issuing assurances of ‘never again’ over 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda as the result of genocide.

The consequences of genocide in Rwanda are immeasurable. Legacies of the 1994 genocide include: the problems of orphans, widows, street children, destruction of social and economic infrastructures, AIDS, fear, frustration and mistrust among people.

The Government of Rwanda, NGOs and donors have contributed both their efforts and finances in order to rebuild the country from the ashes of despair. However, the root causes of the genocide remain latent and the protracted social conflict is unresolved. There also remains a lack of understanding in the world about what happened in Rwanda or how it could have been prevented.

For these reasons, Never Again, a group of students from around the world, are creating a collaborative international partnership. We are students from institutions including: Harvard, London School of Economics and Political Science, McGill University, National University of Rwanda (Butare), Princeton, University College London, Yale and York University (Toronto). These students will travel to Rwanda in August to conduct research in different academic fields and meet with organisations, groups and individuals: witnesses to the genocide and those involved in the reconciliation process. We will be analysing the causes and motives that underpinned the killing, the judicial and reconciliation processes.

Draw international attention to the Rwandan genocide and express remembrance.

Encourage youth co-operation through collaborative research.

Work to support the aims and objectives of existing organisations in Rwanda.

Conduct research into the genocide from a wide range of academic disciplines and use a compilation of our findings to raise awareness in our home countries.

1 July 2002 Seminar Organised by Never Again, SOAS. Participants included members of Never Again, genocide survivors and members of the Rwandan community in London.

The international participants – members of Never Again, UK and Never Again, North America will be paired up with host students from the National University of Rwanda, Butare – members of Never Again, Rwanda. Each pair shares a specific research area. They are currently discussing their research topic via email as preparation to work together as a research team in Rwanda. The local student is making enquiries and contacts to deepen the possibilities for their scope of research when they work together in Rwanda.

A list of tasks will be developed from which the individuals can choose what they would most like to work on. Examples of such tasks are: interviewing local residents, transcribing interviews, analysing interviews, using sound and visual recording devises, preparing the schedule etc.

There shall be time each day for the local and international partners to conduct their own research and complete their research objectives both at the meetings on the itinerary and at side meetings being organised separately.

Every evening all members of Never Again shall convene for a debriefing of the events and a collection and a sharing and collection of findings.

On the last day of the trip all the participants will reconvene and relate the highlights of and conclusions from their research to each other. They will outline where the difficulties lay in conducting their research, any methods they used to successfully overcome these difficulties. They will then outline what role they would like to play in the continuation of the Rwanda Project.

ITEMS	ESTIMATED COST PER PERSON RWF and GBP	ESTIMATED TOTAL COST
1. Travel to Rwanda	464,800 RWF 700 GBP	4,648,000 RWF 7000 GBP
2. Accommodation and living expenses	185,920 RWF 280 GBP	1,859,200 RWF 2800 GBP
3. Transport		560,000 RWF 845 GBP
4. Contacts		50,000 RWF 75 GBP
5. Media		60,000 RWF 90 GBP
TOTAL		7,177,200 RWF 10,810 GBP

We aim to draw these objectives together through the creation of a book of testimonials, transcribed interviews and witness accounts which we aim to edit and publish on our return. We are also looking into the possibilities possibility ofto holding a multimedia exhibition on our return and to include some of our findings in a Rwanda archive. We hope to produce something which we will use in our home countries to mark the 10^th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide in 2004.

We aim to have created strong links between the members of Never Again - UK, Never Again - North America and Never Again – Rwanda. This will stimulate possibilities for our continued work together to enhance understanding internationally about the Rwandan genocide and creating partnerships between those who have experienced genocide and those who have not.

We aim to have created a firm foundation for Never Again and to build the organisation through our international partnerships and through the circulation of our findings internationally.

Never Again – London, Rwanda Project Committee neveragain@post.com

Poppy Sebag-Montefiore, Department of History, University College London, p.sebag-montefiore@ucl.ac.uk +44 7968 043270. Research Interest: reintegration to society of genocide perpetrators and their families

William Paterson. Department of Government, School of Graduate Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science w.w.paterson@lse.ac.uk Research Interest: the role of the civil service in the genocide

Marian Hodgkin, Department of History, University College London, sunflower8989@yahoo.com Research Interest: reconciliation in primary and secondary education

"No man is an island", especially in this age of globalisation. We, the students of the National University of Rwanda are pleased to be conducting research with international students. We see this as an opportunity to sensitise the world community to what happened in our country and to look at the Government of National Unity’s programme to rebuild Rwanda from endless conflict, which has been rampant for several decades.

Never Again – United Kingdom and North America

Our trip to Rwanda aims to express remembrance to Rwandans for the genocide that the international community failed to help them to prevent. We aim to learn about what they experienced, how they are dealing with their history and to exchange with them hopes for the future. We aim to alert the international community to some of the causes and effects of the genocide and to facilitate the exchange of ideas between those who have lived through genocide and those who wish to learn from their experiences. We hope that through collaborative research, we will create a foundation for future co-operation and a basis of mutual understanding between students in Rwanda the UK, the USA and Canada.