Rwandan Genocide

The formation of the United Nations in 1945 was marked by an international outcry to ‘never again’ idly bear witness to the genocidal atrocities capable of man, as so harshly revealed in the nature of the Holocaust. In doing so, all member states actively sought to facilitate discussion in the United Nations as a world forum, in order to achieve both international and intra-national security. While the United Nations has achieved various successes in the international community, the international entity and its’ member states are subject to various legal and moral flaws, weakening response to conflicts in the contemporary era of international relations. These failures are exemplified tragically in the response to the Rwandan genocide in 1994. While the genocide itself reflected internal dynamics, including pre and post-colonial legacies, and economic and political instabilities, the failings of the United Nations and member states, particularly the United States of America and France, in recognizing the atrocity as genocide and responding effectively. As such, the legal and moral shortcomings of the international system fail the doctrine of humanitarian intervention.

Often cited as one of the most efficient genocides of the twentieth century, the Rwandan genocide took place over fourteen weeks, in which estimates as to the death toll vary between eight-hundred thousand to one-million. Ten percent of the populace and approximately seventy-five percent of the Tutsi minority were systematically murdered (Verwimp 2004, 223). The mass atrocities were carried out utilizing pre-modern weaponry, including machetes and varied firearms, at an astounding rate; three-hundred, thirty-three and a third deaths per hour, five-and-a-half death...

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... the Rwandan nation. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 therefore represents to the international realm the dangers of its’ inherent weaknesses in adequately providing humanitarian intervention.

Works Cited

Barnett, M. (2003). Eyewitness to a Genocide: the United Nations and Rwanda. New York: Cornell University Press.

Codere, H. (1962). Power in Rwanda. Anthropologica , 4 (1), 45-85.

Desforges, A. (1999). Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Hintjens, H. (1999). Explaining the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. The Journal of Modern African Studies , 37 (2), 241-286.

Metzl, J. (1997). Rwandan Genocide and the International Law of Radio Jamming. The American Journal of International Law , 91 (4), 628-651.

Verwimp, P. (2004). Death and Survival During the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. Population Studies , 58 (2), 233-245.