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“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.
The Rwandan genocide occurred due to the extreme divide between two main groups that were prevalent in Rwanda, the Hutu and the Tutsi. When Rwanda was first settled, the term Tutsi was used to describe those people who owned the most livestock. After the Germans lost control over their colonies after World War I, the Belgians took over and the terms Hutu and Tutsi took on a racial role (Desforges). It soon became mandatory to have an identification card that specified whether or not an individual was a Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa (a minority group in Rwanda). The Tutsi soon gained power through the grant of leadership positions by the Belgians. Later on when Rwanda was tying to gain indepe...
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...Rights Watch, 1999. Print.
Mukamana, Donatilla and Petra Brysiewicz. “The Lived Experience of Genocide Rape Survivors in Rwanda.” Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 40:4 (2008): 379- 384. Google Scholar. Web. 4 May 2014.
Mullins, Christopher. “’We Are Going to Rape You and Taste Tutsi Women.’” British Journal of Criminology. 49:6 (2000): 719-735. Google Scholar. Web. 25 April 2014.
Russel-Brown, Sherrie. “Rape as an Act of Genocide.” Berkeley Journal of International Law. 21:2 (2003): 350-374. Google Scholar. Web. 28 April 2014.
Sharlach, Lisa. “Rape as Genocide: Bangladesh, the Former Yugoslavia, and Rwanda.” New Political Science. 22:1 (2000): 89-102. Google Scholar. Web. 28 April 2014.
Weitsman, Patricia. “The Politics of Identity and Sexual Violence: A Review of Bosnia and Rwanda.” Human Rights Quarterly. 30:3 (2008): 561-578. Google Scholar. Web. 26 April 2014.
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.
"Rwanda Genocide 20 Years On: 'We Live with Those Who Killed Our Families. We Are Told They're Sorry, but Are They?'" The Guardian. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2013.
Nduwimana, Francoise. "Women and Rwanda's genocide: what goes unsaid.(NEWS CLIPPINGS)." Sister Namibia 16.5-6 (Dec 2004) 38(2). Global Issues In Context. Gale. Peel District School Board All Schools. 27 Nov. 2013
(Countries at Risk). The genocide in Rwanda began when the tension between the Hutus tribe and the Tutsis tribe steadily increased. After the European country, Belgium, colonized Rwanda, they gave more power to
Greenfield, Daniel M. "Crime of Complicity in Genocide: How the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia Got It Wrong, and Why It Matters." The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 98.3 (2008): 921-24. HeinOnline. Web. 18 Apr. 2011.
SAINATI, TATIANA E. "Toward A Comparative Approach To The Crime Of Genocide." Duke Law Journal 62.1 (2012): 161-202. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Nov. 2013
The declarations, resolutions, reports, commissions, preparatory meetings and other precursors of the specially mandated international criminal courts and tribunals created in the 1990s and early years of the twenty-first century, foresaw that the jurisdiction invoked by these international bodies would certainly include crimes of sexual violence, as central violations to IHL and international criminal law, including crimes against humanity. The constitutive instruments of these international judicial bodies, in varying degrees, bore out that prediction. The governing statutes of the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court for Rwanda the Special Panels for Serious Crime and the International Criminal Court (ICC) list the crime of rape, together with other expressly named sex crimes such as trafficking and slavery, that are, on their face not of a sexual nature, but crimes whose actus reus could certainly include acts of sexual violence.
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.
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.
middle of paper ... ... d trauma healing groups have been working in Rwanda to help people with PTSD and other disorders but have only reach a small portion of the targeted group. Conclusion In the years after the genocide, we as people had questioned our past decisions and our countries decision to stay out of the genocide until it was too late.
"Rwanda Genocide." Global Issues in Context Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Global Issues In Context. Web. 12 Apr. 2010.
Harff, Barbara. Genocide and Human Rights: International Legal and Political Issues. Denver: University of Denver, 1984.
Thesis: Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina have been internationally recognized as independent entities of Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro) since 1992. Even though these nation-states are all independent of one another, the international community refuses to see them as such. The resulting impact of the lack of recognition has added fuel to the fire that has been raging between these nation-states for decades, and the number of victims that have been unfortunately involved continue to grow. Allen directly addresses the indifference of the international community in Rape Warfare and how it contributes to the ‘ethnic’-genocide that is occurring in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. “Never comfort yourself with the thought that because the worst things
Genocide is the deliberate fixation on a group of people with the intent of causing their destruction. Those targeted by genocide are usually the ethnic minority of their society, or have been marginalized by their society. When genocide happens, the gender that is most commonly associated with the violence is men. Men are the first to be accused of genocidal violence and the first to be tried in a court of law. However, men are not the only perpetrators of genocide, women also have a role in genocidal violence. Although women take part in genocide, many go unnoticed by the international community and by the justice system. Even if these women are held accountable for their crimes, female perpetrators still receive light punishments when compared
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. .