There are millions of people that wish for peace every day. If those people of today’s world cannot have peace, they want to avoid any form of violence. Canada is a very good example of a peaceful lifestyle. Unfortunately, this state is not common to every country. In 1945, an international organization called United Nations was created in order to try to fix this kind of problem around the world. This is done by intervening in several countries in order to bring peace. Among these interventions, many were situated on the African continent: Sudan, South Africa, Sierra Leone and Somalia are some examples of countries that got the help of the United Nations. What determines the United Nations final decision whether to intervene in African conflicts or not and what actions follow? Two major conflicts can give a partial answer. In the South Africa conflict, the United Nations decided to intervene for the security of the country’s inhabitants. However, in the Rwanda conflict, the United Nations decided to ignore the massacres for the safety of its own soldiers.
A brief summary of the history of the United Nations is necessary before expanding upon the conflicts. The United Nations (UN) was originally created by 51 countries (including the United States) at the end of Second World War, in 1945. This international organization was the substitute for the League of Nations. (Swisher: 1997, p.6) In other words, it is a better version of the old organization. The total number of countries involved in this organization is 192. This number remains the same since Montenegro was the last to join in 2006. (Department of Public Information: 2006) One of the UN’s organs is called the Security Council and its role consists of “the maintenance o...
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Department of Public Information (2007). Lessons from Rwanda: The United Nations and the Prevention of Genocide. United Nations. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from http://www.un.org/preventgenocide/rwanda/infokit.shtml
Department of Public Information (2010). The United Nations: Partner in the Struggle against Apartheid. United Nations. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from http://www.un.org/en/events/
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Kressel, Neil J. (1996). Mass hate: the global rise of genocide and terror. New York: Plenum Press.
Malhotra, Ram C. (1964). Apartheid and the United Nations. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 354, pp.135-144. Retrieved April 23, 2011, from JSTOR.
Swisher, Karin L. (1997). The United Nations. San Diego, California: Greenhaven Press.
United Nations. "Rwanda, genocide, Hutu, Tutsi, mass execution, ethnic cleansing, massacre, human rights, victim remembrance, education, Africa." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. .
Many innocent lives were taken during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Philip Gourevitch’s “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families,” explains why the genocide that occurred in Rwanda should not be written off in history as just another tribal disagreement. This book entails the stories of Gourevitch and the people he interviewed when he went to Rwanda. These stories express what people went through during the genocide, the loss they saw, the mass killings they tried to hide from, and the history of what led to the Rwandan genocide. Rwanda’s colonial past did influence the development of the genocide in Rwanda. The hatred between the Hutus and the Tutsis had been going on for many years before the genocide.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
"Rwanda Genocide." Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Global Issues In Context. Web. 12 Apr. 2010.
Strauss, Scott. The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda. (Cornell University Press Ithaca and London). 2006.
When the Rwandan Hutu majority betrayed the Tutsi minority, a destructive mass murdering broke out where neighbor turned on neighbor and teachers killed their students; this was the start of a genocide. In this paper I will tell you about the horrors the people of Rwanda had to face while genocide destroyed their homes, and I will also tell you about the mental trauma they still face today.
Fifty-eight years after the signing of the Charter, the world has changed dramatically. Its universal character and comprehensiveness make the United Nations a unique and indispensable forum for governments to work together to address global issues. At the same time, there remains a large gap between aspiration and real accomplishment. There have been many successes and many failures. The United Nations is a bureaucracy that struggles – understandably – in its attempt to bring together 191 countries. It must come at no surprise, therefore, that a consensus cannot always be reached with so many different competing voices.
The End of Apartheid - HistoryWiz South Africa. (n.d.). HistoryWiz: for students, teachers and lovers of history. Retrieved February 19, 2011, from http://www.historywiz.org/end.htm
1. As far as peace keeping methods go, the reputation of the United Nations is very pitiable. This is not only because they have not been doing their job to it’s fullest extent, but also because the member states on the security council haven’t given the UN the power it needs if it is to be a successful force in peace keeping methods.
Coster, P., & Woolf, A. (Eds.).(2011). World book: South Africa’s Anti-Apartheid Movement, (pp. 56-57). Arcturus Publishers: Chicago.
United Human Rights Council. (2014). Genocide in Rwanda. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm [Accessed: 21 Feb 2014].
Weiss, T. G., 2009. What's Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix it. 1st ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Middleton, John. "Rwanda." Africa: an Encyclopedia for Students. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. Print.
The United Nations has made many achievements since the agreement made in 1945. The efforts of the UN helped end the apartheid in South Africa allowing the citizens of South Africa equal participation in the Elections of April 1994 followed by a consensus in choosing a form of government. 90 percent of children in developing countries attend school and 60 percent of adults in these countries can read and write thanks to the UN and the struggle to improve education in developing countries. Over 300 international treaties have been created through United Nations efforts to strengthen international law. These achievements and many others encourage people like myself to promote and praise the United Nations.
“I believe that the biggest factor which changed South Africa’s government was the international pressure it got, mostly from the UN. I would love to believe that South Africa’s government eventually understood their mistakes but the UN played a huge role. Without the tension from the United Nations, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get out of prison as soon as I did.”