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Rwanda genocide un failure
The Rwanda genocide international response
The Rwanda genocide international response
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How did 3rd parties handle the developing situation, and how did the conflict itself re-shape the resolution process for years after the fighting officially ceased.
The Rwanda genocide that took place during the summer months of 1994 continues to shock the world today with its breadth, speed, and brutality. In approximately 100 days, “up to one million people perished and as many as 250,000 women were raped, leaving the country’s population traumatized and its infrastructure decimated.” While this alone is staggering to comprehend, it is even more unfathomable that this whole event took place in full view of the international community, with UN peacekeeping soldiers on the ground and the UN council kept up to date on the developing situation. … The United Nations, acting as a third party mediator, completely failed in its roll to intervene in the conflict and move the issue towards resolution, which caused long-term resolution methods to take place from the local to the international level for years after the fighting officially ceased.
Part I: Third party mediation during the conflict
When looking at the actual Rwanda genocide, UN involvement can be traced back to the Arusha Peace Agreement signed on August 4th, 1993. This Agreement was signed in Arusha, Tanzania between the Hutu-led government and the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and was an attempt to move the nation out of a period of civil war and towards a stable democracy. In order to help enforce the Arusha Peace Agreement, the UN created the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) on October 3rd, 1993. The Mandate of UNAMIR was:
“To assist in ensuring the security of the capital city of Kigali; monitor the ceasefire agreement, includin...
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...c interest in the conflict in Rwanda. Negotiating a peace deal such as the Arusha Peace Agreement can be time intensive but is relatively cost-free to the members of the UN. Humanitarian issues, however, are much more costly and are (somewhat understandably) generally ignored if the intervening nations receive no benefit from their actions. This fact was painfully true in Rwanda and was another causative factor for an absence of third party intervention.
Finally, international disinterest was perpetuated by the series of failed foreign interventions that took place right before the Rwanda genocide. The United States was obviously unsettled by its failures in Mogadishu and in other foreign engagements, and went as far as to declare that UNAMIR should be shut down. This opinion was echoed by other members of the Security Council, and there was a general sentiment
“The Rwandan Genocide represents one of the worst human security failures, and the consequences still reverberate through the Great Lakes region of Africa nearly ten years later”, writes the Commission on Human Security in 2003. “Therefore, realizing human rights lies at the core of protecting and empowering people” (Bodelier, 2011). Canada's lack of response to the Rwandan Genocide was unfortunate, and it allowed for questioning of Canada's continued strength in peacekeeping operations, something Canada had been instrumental in creating merely 40 years prior. It is necessary to examine Canada's role within the international community's failure, to understand what external factors can still influence Canada's foreign policy, and to therefore
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.
The Rwandan Genocide was a terrible event in history caused by a constantly weakening relationship between two groups of people. The country of Rwanda is located in Africa and consists of multiple groups of people. Majority of Rwanda is Hutu, while a smaller amount of people are Tutsis. The genocide started due to multiple events that really stretched the relationship between the two groups to its end. One of the starting factors was at the end of World War 1. Rwanda was a German colony but then was given to Belgium “who favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated[exacerbating] the tendency of the few to oppress the many”(History.com). This created a feeling of anger towards the Tutsis, because they had much more power then Hutus.
Many lessons could be learned from these conflicts. First off, one must try to make a positive change in one’s surroundings. One should not just leave its environment knowing that he/she can make a positive change to it. During the Rwandan Genocide, the U.N. decided to break their ethics and do the exact opposite. Many soldiers stated that they are peacekeepers not peacemakers. Secondly, people should learn that the decisions they make will carry out throughout their lives and after their lives. The two tribes that went to war with each other did not realize what effects their actions would have on future generations. From these lessons maybe current generations and future generations could learn about the dark historical moments of past generations and how to keep this type of history from repeating itself.
Also, the Rwandan Genocide should have been easy to predict when reflecting on the numerous Tutsi assaults in the past. All attacks that took place in Rwanda after World War I led to the Rwandan Genocide, which is frequently known as the most monumental massacre in the history of Rwanda. Each assault building up to it possessed a secret plea from the Tutsis to other countries, hoping for a country 's or the U.N. 's assistance to help defend against the Hutus. Nevertheless, little assistance was provided for the Tutsis even during the Rwandan Genocide. The lack of empathy from other nations was a remarkable aspect of the massacre. The entire world observed the genocide play out, but waited for the United Nations
When the Belgian colonizers entered Rwanda in 1924, they created an ethnic classification between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two tribes who used to live together as one. After independence in 1962, there was a constant power struggle between the two tribes. Former Canadian Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Chrétien described the situation as “tribalism without tribes.” (Destexhe, 1995) There were many signs leading towards genocide, yet the nations in power chose to ignore them. From April 6, 1994 until mid-July, a time spanning approximately of 100 days, 800,000 people were murdered when the Hutu attacked the Tutsi. No foreign aid came to the rescue until it was too late. Ten years after the genocide the United Nations was still involved in Rwanda, cleaning up the mess that was left behind because of man’s sinful nature. Could the Rwandan Genocide have been prevented, or is it simply a fact of life? Even though the international community is monitoring every country and race, such an event as the Rwandan Genocide could occur again because the European colonizers introduced ethnic classification where it did not exist and the nations in power chose to ignore the blatant signs of genocide.
The biggest reason the Rwandan genocide was not ended earlier was because the United Nations made a minimal effort to step on there and help the falling country. The job of the UN is to protect the people of the world, stop fighting between countries, and keep the international law. None of that was accomplished during the Rwandan genocide. To prevent future genocides, the United Nations must step in a finish any major killing before it starts.
As the news reported that Islamic State committed genocide against Christians and other minorities had suffered serious defeats from recent battles against the allied forces, the images of piles of dead bodies shown to the world in Rwanda about a couple decades ago emerge once again and triggers an interesting puzzle: why did the Rwandan Genocide happen in one of the smallest nations in the African Continent? The documentary film, Rwanda-Do Scars Ever Fade?, upon which this film analysis is based provides an answer to the puzzle.
As a conclusion, Rwanda and Bosnia genocide was about ethnic conflicts for gaining power or for land, mass murders, area destructions, civilians deaths, hiding evidence and many more. Also genocide has different stages to categories its specification such as classification, symbolisms, discrimination, dehumanization, extermination, preparation and many more. As the end of genocide there were deaths of some ethnic groups too which are hardly found or known as minority groups. We should further inspire and encourage future world people to prevent such a tragedy like the Rwanda and Bosnia and other genocide conflict from ever happening again.
In the case of genocides, there are many factors that motivate the perpetrators to kill. In the Rwandan genocide there are many reasons why the Hutus would be motivated to kill the Tutsis. There were reasons, of long standing hatred toward Tutsis, fear of authority and repercussion, economic and many other motivating factors. In the book, Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak, Jean Hatzfeld explores these many reasons for genocide through interviews with killers. Even though were many motivating factors for the Rwandan genocide, the main motivation for the perpetrators were for economic reasons.
“The sweetly sickening odor of decomposing bodies hung over many parts of Rwanda in July 1994: . . . at Nyarubuye in eastern Rwanda, where the cadaver of a little girl, otherwise intact, had been flattened by passing vehicles to the thinness of cardboard in front of the church steps,” (Deforges 6). The normalcy of horrible images like this one had cast a depressing gloom over Rwanda during the genocide, a time when an extreme divide caused mass killings of Tutsi by the Hutu. Many tactics such as physical assault or hate propaganda are well known and often used during times of war. Sexual assault and rape, however, during times of war is an unspoken secret – it is well known that rape occurs within combat zones and occupied territories, but people tend to ignore, or even worse, not speak of the act. There have been recorded cases of rape and sexual assault in almost every war in human history. Genocidal rape was used as a gendered war tactic in the Rwandan genocide in order to accomplish the Hutu goal of elimination of the Tutsi people in whole, or part.
I too have question my countries decision. Why didn’t the US interfere with the genocide and be the hero my favorite historical anime, Hetalia, made it out to be? I believe not helping the innocent people being murdered in Rwanda was wrong of all the countries of the world but now it is too late to change the past and we can only look to the future. We can look to the future and hope and pray that another genocide never occurs but it’s useless.
It was unethical for the UN forces and the rest of the Western nations to disregard the Rwandan genocide. Hotel Rwanda is a film that reveals how the world watched as innocent lives were lost in Rwanda. The genocide escalated due to lack of moral values in the society, especially in the Western community.
UN peacekeepers in Rwanda sent warning of an “Anti-Tutsi extermination” plot, and there were stories in Washington Post & New York Times but President Clinton specifically avoided calling the killings a genocide to avoid U.S involvement. The U.S would have no participation in stopping the Rwandan Genocide.A UN peacekeeping operation was sent to Rwanda in April but they failed to be an benefit and they weren't very well equipped. Quickly medical supplies ran out with no money to restock and other supplies could rarely be
Baldauf, S. (2009). Why the US didn't intervene in the Rwandan genocide. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2009/0407/p06s14-woaf.html [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].