The Rwanda Genocide of 1994 Issues - Essay Example

?The Rwanda genocide (1994 0. Introduction In modern history, crimes of genocides are remembered because they reflect man’s capability to be inhumane and, of course, they involve a significant number of casualties among people. On the other hand, the mere fact that crimes of genocide are being legislated against testifies to man’s efforts to prevent crimes of genocide and man’s ultimate aim to be more humane. One of the most infamous crimes of genocide of recent years is the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The number of people who died in the genocide puts the Rwandan genocide of 1994 as one of the highest in recorded history. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 illustrates humanity at one of its worst. The genocide arose from a rivalry between the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups in Rwanda (some argue that they are not ethnic groups). Estimates placed the number of people killed in Rwanda at a minimum of 800,000 between April and June 1994 (Hansen 2005, p.1). The genocide placed the world in shock with the rate or speed in which people are being killed daily, perhaps at least 8,000 people a day in 100 days (Tearfund 2011). The genocide produced 85,000 child-headed households and resulted to a 70-30 ratio female-to-male ratio in Rwanda (Tearfund 2011). Yet, this can be the minimum number because some of the estimates on the number of people who died in the genocide were as high as one million although there is an estimate of only 500,000. 2.0. Human genocide: definition Shaller and Zimmerer (2005, p. 447) narrated that the word genocide was coined by Raphael Lemkin, an international rights activist, Polish Jewish specialist in international law, and founder of the United Nation’s Genocide Convention. As documented out by Husain (2009, p. 1), Lemkin clarified that “Genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the group themselves. The objectives of such a plan would be disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national groups, and the destruction of the personal security, liberty, health, dignity, and even the lives of the individuals belonging to such groups.” Lemkin coined or used the term “genocide” because he believes that killings such as those perpetrated by German Nazis against the Jews needed a specific term to describe the specific horror, scale, monstrosity, and barbarity of killings done on a mass scale (Stone 2005). Although Lemkin used the experience of Jews, his use of the term “genocide” was not limited to the Jewish experience (Stone 2005). He did not use the term “holocaust” and articulated his views on genocide in his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, published in 1944 (Lemkin 2005, p. 539). Soon, Lemkin’s views on genocide became the foundation of the definition adopted by the “United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” which was approved later by the UN General Assembly on 9 December 1948” (Shaller and Zimmerer 2005, p. 449). Under Article 3 of the United Nations 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the following are prohibited and punishment is meted to violators: genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, inciting to genocide whether directly or indirectly, attempt to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide. Sadly, despite Lemkin’s very important contribution, “Lemkin has never won adequate recognition” and died in 1959 “impoverished and isolated” (Shaller and Zimmer 2005, p. 449). 3.0. UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights In addition to the prohibition against genocide under the “United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” that was approved by the United Nations Assembly on 9 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly also adopted the next day, or 10 December 1948, the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights. The term genocide is not in the 1948 UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights but the preamble of the UN universal declaration noted that certain acts are barbaric and this can be presumed to be referring to genocide. Article 2 of the universal declaration emphasized that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedom under the declaration regardless of their social group. Article 3 of the universal declaration emphasized that everyone has the right to life. The said articles of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 provides more than an adequate articulation of the right against genocide because if killing a single individual violates Article 3 of the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights that says, “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person,” what is implied is that people in groups or in ethnic or cultural groups have the same rights as a collective. To a certain extent, the 1948 “United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” that is largely attributed to the work of Lemkin did much more than the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights because “barbarity and vandalism” were criminalized (Stone 2005, p. 1183). The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights simply covered a larger facet of life as human rights were not conceptualized solely in terms of genocides or mass murders. 4.0. Rwanda genocide When Rwanda President Juvenal Habyarimana was assassinated on 6 April 1994, Hutus or Hutu extremists blamed the Tutsi minority for the murder of the Rwandan President and Hutu extremists systematically murdered the Tutsis (Nieuwoudt 2008). According to news reports of the BBC, the Rwandan President with Burundi President Cyprian Ntayamira was killed with rocket fire on the same plane with Habyarimana along with eight other people. Earlier, the BBC reported that President Habyarimana’s Hutu coalition has been trying to win a peace agreement with the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front but they have been failing to reach an agreement on the transition period. In less than 100 days from the assassination, more than 800,000 people were killed as Hutus blamed the Tutsis for the assassination of President Habyarimana, a Hutu (BBC 2008). Most of the dead were Tutsis (BBC 2008). After Habyarimana’s murder, President Paul Kagame succeeded Habyarimana. Kagame is a Tutsi and has been a leader of the Tutsi rebel group under the presidency of Habyarimana. Kagame had denied involvement in the murder of Habyarimana although a French judge has attributed Habyarimana’s murder to the group of Kagame (BBC 2008). In turn, Kagame has blamed Hutu extremists for the murder of Habyarimana (BBC 2008). As ethnic or social groups, Hutus and Tutsis are believed to be similar because they speak the same language and follow the same traditions (BBC 2008). However, “Tutsis are often taller and thinner than Hutus, with some saying their origins lie in Ethiopia” (BBC 2008). 5.0. Background to the genocide The greater part of Rwanda used to be controlled under a monarchy of the Tutsis subservient to Belgian colonialism. The Tutsis under the Rwandan King committed violence against Hutus but the Hutus overthrew the Tutsi monarchy in 1957 and established a new government under Gregoire Kayibanda who in turn“persecuted” the Tutsis (Viret 2010, pp. 1-5). Heleta (2006, pp. 265) argued that Belgian colonialism had divided the Tutsis and Hutus from each other. The Heleta (2006) narration is that the genocide that we have seen or are seeing in Rwanda is a product of Belgian colonialism that pitted one ethnic group against another in order to perpetuate its rule. 6.0. Causes of the genocide There are several theories on why the genocide happened. One of the more popular ones include the perspective of Jared Diamond who theorized that population pressure was the main cause of genocide (Boudreaux 2009). Diamond argued that Rwandan population density has been one of the highest of the world at about 760 people per square miles (Boudreaux 2009). Another perspective on the Rwandan 1994 genocide attributes the genocide to Rwanda’s political and economic position in the world capitalist system (Shah 2006). This is the perspective of Richard Robbins, author of Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism (Shah 2006). According to Robbins, there are also other factors involved like the interests of international agencies, the price of coffee, and western attitudes towards Africa (Shah 2006). Caplan (2009, p. 31) alleged that Hutus had the support of the French government while the Tutsis were being persecuted. Caplan (2009, p. 31) claimed that “had the French government not offered all possible support to the Hutu government of Rwanda in the years immediately leading to the genocide, the genocide might have never happened.” Further, Caplan claimed (2009, p. 31) that “had European missionaries not invented an ideology that that blatantly set Tutsis against Hutus, had the Belgian government not institutionalized” a false ideology, the genocide might not have happened. Ironically, Caplan’s allegation has found some support in the way news is being reported by the BBC. The BBC said that when “Belgian colonist arrived in 1916, they produced identity cards classifying people according to their ethnicity” (BBC 2008). The Belgians also reportedly promoted the idea that Tutsis are superior to the Hutus which the Tutsis welcome (BBC 2008). 7.0. Effects of civil war (1990-1993) It has been argued that the genocide was one of the effects of the Rwandan civil war (Mitchell 1997). In particular, it has been alleged that during the Ugandan Bush War, a large number of Tutsis united to form the National Resistance Movement for the purpose of invading Rwanda, overcome the Hutus, and regain power (Pike 2011). The division of Rwanda into Hutus and Tutsis has been very sharp. Each side has their own journals and radio programs. Each tried to mobilize people against the other. Tutsis had a journal known as Kanguka while Hutus had a journal known as Kangura through which each side articulated their program, ideology, and thoughts against the other group. The journals fomented hate against between Tutsis and Hutus. 8.0. End of the war In July 1994 the RPF overtook Kigali. The Hutu government collapsed and the RPF declared a ceasefire. However, when it became apparent that the RPF was victorious, about two million Hutus fled to Zaire that is now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo. The refugees from Rwanda include many who have been implicated as perpetrators of genocide or massacres. In the immediate aftermath of the war, a multi-ethnic government was set up with a Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu as president and Paul Kagame as deputy. However, Bizimungu was jailed on charges of inciting ethnic violence while Kagame became the successor president of Rwanda. One of the strategies being taken by the Rwandan government today is to revive the traditional justice system or Gacaca, in which “hearings took place at village level” and which emphasizes “confession, forgiveness and reparation” (Tearfund 2011). Under the Gacaca, cases are “turned round quickly and a great measure of reconciliation was achieved” (Tearfund 2011). 9.0. Concluding thoughts Given the foregoing a point for reflection is whether a United Nations-led humanitarian intervention or the world’s powers could have intervened in Rwanda to marshal the nation to peace. Perhaps another relevant question is why the United Nations or the world’s power have not intervened when foreign powers could have invoked any excuse under the sun to intervene given the number of deaths in Rwanda, in the same way that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervened in Libya or in the same manner as the word’s power intervened in Kosovo. At least several hundred thousand if not a million people died from the genocide in Rwanda but the world’s greatest powers have not intervened. Yet, in smaller countries like Libya where the casualties involve a fewer number of people, the world’s powers intervened. References BBC, 2008. Rwanda: How the genocide happened. BBC News, 18 December. Available in http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1288230.stm (accessed 2 December 2011). Boudreaux, K., 2009. Land conflict and genocide in Rwanda. Available in http://www.ejsd.org/docs/LAND_CONFLICT_AND_GENOCIDE_IN_RWANDA.pdf (accessed 2 December 2011). Caplan, G., 2009. Memory and denial: The Rwandan genocide fifteen years on. In: Peace and Conflict, April, 31-34. Available in http://www.monitor.upeace.org/documents/Peace_and_Conflict_Monitor_Special_Edition_-_Genocide_in_Rwanda_v2.pdf (accessed 2 December 2011). Hansen, T., 2005. The Gacaca tribunals in post-genocide Rwanda. University of Minnesotta: Center for Restorative Justice. Available in http://www.cehd.umn.edu/ssw/rjp/Resources/RJ_Dialogue_Resources/RJ_Dialogue%20Approaches/Gacaca_Tribunals.pdf (accessed 2 December 2011). Heleta, S., 2006. Leaving Rwandans to die. Available in http://www.savoheleta.com/Leaving_Rwandans_to_Die_by_Savo_Heleta.pdf (accessed 2 December 2011). Husain, S. A., 2009. Genocide in Bangladesh, 1971: Fixing responsibility. Paper presented in the Second International Conference on Genocide, Truth and Justice. Dhaka: Liberation War Museum. Available in http://www.liberationwarmuseum.org/genocide/papers/lwm_icgtj_2009_sahossain.pdf (accessed 2 December 2011). Mitchell, T., 1997. Rwanda and conflict. Available in http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/Rwanda.htm (accessed 2 December 2011). Nieuwoudt, S., 2006. New controversy over Rwandan genocide. Available in http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch-Archive/Detail/?ots591=4888CAA0-B3DB-1461-98B9-E20E7B9C13D4&lng=en&id=51824 (accessed 2 December 2011). Pike, J., 2011. Rwanda civil war. Available in http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/rwanda.htm (accessed 2 December 2011). Shah, A., 2006. Rwanda. Available in http://www.globalissues.org/print/article/429 (accessed 2 December 2011). Shaller, D. and Zimmerer, J., 2005. From the guest editors: Raphael Lemkin: the “founder of the United Nation’s Genocide Convention” as a historian of mass violence. Journal of Genocide Research, 7 (4), 447-452. Stone, R., 2005. Raphael Lemkin on the holocaust. Journal of Genocide Research, 7 (4), 539-550. Tearfund, 2011. Rwanda. Middlesex: Tearfund. Available in http://www.tearfund.org/en/what_we_do_and_where/countries/east_and_central_africa/rwanda/ (accessed 2 December 2011). United Nations, 1948. Universal declaration of human rights. United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217 A(III), 10 December. United Nations: UN Department of Public Information. Available in http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/2007/hrphotos/declaration%20_eng.pdf (accessed 2 December 2011). Viret, E., 2010. Rwanda---A chronology. Available in http://massviolence.org/IMG/article_PDF/Rwanda-A-Chronology.pdf (accessed 2 December 2010). Read More