As of March of 2008, a total of 300,000 people have died in Darfur, Sudan due to genocide. That is equivalent to the entire population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Genocide started back in February of 2003 in Darfur, Sudan. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines the liberties set for everyone in the World. Established in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights displays the rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled to. The situation in Darfur, Sudan is known as Genocide, Genocide is defined as a systematic extermination or attempt at exterminating a national, political, racial or cultural group. The Darfur Genocide has violated Article #3, Article #5 and Article #9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Darfur Genocide violates article #3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article #5 has been violated by the Genocide in Darfur. Article #9 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights has been violated by the Darfur Genocide. Attacks in Darfur are mostly by a group called the Janjaweed which are an Arab based group supported by the Sudanese Government, to carry out attacks on people with different religious, economic and political views. The Darfur Genocide violates the rights of its citizens; steps should be enforced by United Nations and it allies.
The Darfur Genocide violates Article #3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article #3 states everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. First, the Janjaweed regime has violated article # 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by enforcing massive starvation on the Darfur citizens. For example, Halimalay said as she watched over her malnourished daughter, Zahra "They chased us from our home ...
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...s Article #9 is being violated by the Darfur Genocide. The civilians of Darfur are having their rights violated by the Sudanese government, and action needs to be taken to help the civilians of Darfur. Some ways that action can be taken is; informing yourself and others about the situation, join volunteer advocacy groups, going to www.helpdarfurnow.org, www.savedarfur.com to make a donation, create your own website helping to inform people about the situation, contact a local newspaper to create an article about the situation, contact political officials and state that action needs to be taken, create an organization to raise money, sell shirts or other merchandise and have some of the proceeds go to Darfur. To conclude, the genocide in Darfur is a fracture of the rights that are available humans provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Genocide is a pressing issue with a multitude of questions and debates surrounding it. It is the opinion of many people that the United Nations should not get involved with or try to stop ongoing genocide because of costs or impositions on the rights of a country, but what about the rights of an individual? The UN should get involved in human rights crimes that may lead to genocide to prevent millions of deaths, save money on humanitarian aid and clean up, and fulfill their responsibilities to stop such crimes. It is preferable to stop genocide before it occurs through diplomacy, but if necessary, military force may be used as a last resort. Navi Pillay, Human Rights High Commissioner, stated, “Concerted efforts by the international community at critical moments in time could prevent the escalation of violence into genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or ethnic cleansing.”
Many still believe that all the hard times are behind them. Those people believe that since they aren’t the ones having to face those harsh times. However, evil still exists till this day, like the Genocide in Darfur. The subject about Darfur has always been a delicate one to many. However, there are still many in this society that still don’t even have the slightest clue about what is happening over in Sudan. There have been many genocides in the past, and the most well known is the Holocaust, but it’s sad to think that it still goes on till this day. Furthermore, there are still many that haven’t done much about it. Society needs to find out about what is happening in Darfur and awareness needs to be raised as well.
As seen from “Armed & Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman, “...200,000 children worldwide are still being used as combatants, usually against their will. And it isn't just boys: Girls are often pressed into duty as cooks or messengers. Many are subjected to sexual abuse, including rape.” As revealed, the children involved in this injustice, are ordinarily being forced to be mistreated. This supports the claim that when groups come together they can help those involved, as with the help of public backlash on this issue, they can help the children involved get out of these situations. Accordingly from “The Charge: Genocide” By Lydia Polgreen, “...Sudan's President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, could face arrest on charges of genocide—the systematic destruction of a racial or cultural group—as well as war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur: In July, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.), based in The Hague, the Netherlands, formally requested an arrest warrant for Bashir.” As conveyed, a prosecutor from the I.C.C has requested an arrest warrant for Bashir, consequently he committed against humanity. This aids in supporting the claim that when groups come together they can help those involved seeing that the I.C.C has come together to go against the injustices committed by Bashir, which would help stop the injustices to help the many people involved in these atrocities. Likewise from Polgreen´s text, “The I.C.C. prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, charges that Bashir has "masterminded and implemented" a plan to destroy the people of Darfur. "´Al-Bashir organized the destitution, insecurity, and harassment of the survivors," he contends. "He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear.´" As exhibited, Luis Moreno-Ocampo from the I.C.C has stood up in order to stop the injustices that Bashir has committed against the people of Darfur.
“Darfur Genocide.” World Without Genocide. William Mitchell School of Law, n.d. Web. 16 April 2014. .
The biggest war the world has ever seen was World War II. What was one factor that led to such a quick escalation? Genocide. Over 45 million people were murdered during this tragic time. The question is: was it the allies responsibility to intervene? The answer: No. The Global Community has no responsibility to intervene in states committing genocide.
Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once said, "We were not realizing that with just a machete, you can do a genocide." To be candid, nobody anticipated the Rwandan Genocide that occurred in 1994. The genocide in Rwanda was an infamous blood-red blur in modern history where almost a million innocent people were murdered in cold blood. Members of the Tutsi tribe were systematically hacked or beaten to death by members of the Interahamwe, a militia made up of Hutu tribe members. In just 100 days, from April 6, 1994 to mid-July, 20% of Rwanda's population was killed; about 10,000 people a day. Bodies literally were strewn over city streets. Genocide obviously violates almost all articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; however, the article I find most important is Article 3 - the right to life, liberty, and personal security. In just 100 days, one million people were denied the most basic privilege granted to every human – the right to live, simply because they were born to the wrong tribe.
“Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, language or any other status. We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination. These rights are all interrelated, independent, and indivisible.” (Webster Online Dictionary) These rights are taken away during genocide. Throughout history genocides have taken place time and time again from the Armenian genocide of 1915, to the Darfur genocide starting in 2003, and is still in progress today. Genocide is a barbaric practice that dehumanizes people and takes away their basic human rights ; American Foreign policy should be to intervene in foreign affairs when human rights violations are evident.
The Darfur case however, revealed that both of these strategies are not effective. Responding to the genocide in Darfur, the US officials declared the label genocide to be occurring. Thereafter, a politically civil-society coalition emerged so as to lobby the administration. The net outcome of these two scenarios however was the same in the absence of effective policies that could halt the genocide. The Rwandan genocide has always acted as the point of reference for similar genocides taking place around the world. Since the 2003 crisis in Darfur, a lot of comparisons have been made to Rwandan genocide. Observers have likened the Darfur genocide to what happened in Rwanda and of course giving it two connotations. First, the violence in the western parts of Sudan has been referred to another Rwanda, by basing their arguments on the nature of the violence. Since whatever was happening in Darfur is similar t...
Throughout Northern and Central Africa ethnic fighting and mass genocide has run rampant. Clashes between, diverse ethnic and cultural people has caused instability, these mass humanitarian disasters that can no longer be ignored. With the help of other nations South Sudan can go from another mass genocide waiting to happen, to a region supplier of much needed resources, with the help of other nations. In the 1990’s Rwanda genocide was basically ignored by the United States government and because of this hundreds of thousands were either killed or injured in the area. In the early 2000’s the war in Darfur, created a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Darfur's non-Arabs. Again thousands of Africans were killed and the United States government and the American people ignored genocide.
Kofi Annan’s life experiences that influenced him to work for the UN started when he went to a Methodist Boarding school, he was taught that "suffering anywhere concerns people everywhere." He then went on to study at four different colleges and got a masters degree in International Relations. He got a job with the UN as a budget official, and slowly worked his way up. For 9 years, he was an assistant Secretary General for 3 different organizations. While doing so, the Rwandan Genocide took place, and Annan was highly criticized for the way he handled it. He took responsibility for his actions. This lead to him finally being voted in to be the new Secretary-General, where he stayed for 10 years.
These violations of human rights involve crimes against humanity, war crimes, and also violate: - Right to life (Art. 3 UDHR, Art. 6.1 ICCPR) - Right to fair trial (Arts. 8, 9, 10, 11 UDHR, Art. 8 ICCPR) - Right to an adequate standard of living, food and shelter (Art. 25.1 UDHR, Art. 11 ICESCR) - Right to equality and non-discrimination (Arts. 1, 2, 7 UDHR, Arts. 2.1, 4.1, 24.1, 25, 26 ICCPR, Arts. 2.2, 7, 10.3 ICESCR)
Generally, when most think of a crime against humanity, the most common synonym is genocide. Kosovo, Cambodia, Sudan, and Poland are all instances when genocide occurred and the public rightly labeled these instances as crimes against humanity. Within our modern world there are means other than the preconceived notion of genocide to systematically remove a specific group from their rights as humans. Using the relations between Mexico and the United States as an example, the need for a broadened interpretation of human rights violations will be established.
In the documentary film, “Hotel Rwanda,” almost all parts of “Common article 3” were violated in the conflict between the Hutu majority and the Tutsis. The first provision of the article states that no one directly involved in the conflict should be treated inhumanely based on race, colour, religion, or any similar criteria. This provision and the second provision under 1(a) was violated a number of times since the main goal of the Hutu majority was to completely wipe out the Tutsi population. The reasoning for this severe operation was because the Hutus believed that the Tutsis stole their land, whipped the Hutus, and murdered them. The Hutus’ goal was to “squash the infestation,” and so they murdered over 1 million Tutsis. Not only that,
Hymowitz, Sarah, and Amelia Parker. "Lessons - The Genocide Teaching Project - Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law." American University Washington College of Law. American UniversityWashington College of Law Center for Human Rights and Humanitaian Law, 2011. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. .
...es, extreme caution should always be taken. Time should be spent examining differences between groups in order to be sure to maintain a harmonious society. Rape and sexual assault in Darfur has become one of the most crucial tactics in their genocide. Not only is the destruction of Darfuri women’s lives tolerated, but encouraged by the Sudanese government and Janjawid militia. Even if the Darfur society was able to prevail with some survivors, the chances of women having their same value and prominence are extremely slim. Rape has not only violated women, but violated the cultural norms within Darfur. Shame, traumatic impact, irrepable damage, and identity loss will outlive the actual events that have occurred. An institution of total intent to eliminate Darfur culture, the rape of women leaves behind an irreversible legacy of the negative impact of globalization.