Human intervention has always been a very debatable issue. While a lot of people advocate this concept, many people consider it wrong. The views in favor of humanitarian intervention is the protection of innocent civilians during a case of emergency. The military is mostly introduced in an area of war or other emergencies, to minimize casualties. They protect innocent people and provide assistance to get rid of the unjust regimes. Additionally, they are sent to restore peace and the rule of law and democracy. Lastly, human intervention helps to bring the people guilty of crimes to justice.
Arguments against human intervention were mostly based on the amount of abuse that is carried during the intervention. It does not take the concept of sovereignty into consideration. The basic human rights of every individual are violated. Human intervention creates a hostile environment where every person lives in constant fear. Another criticism against human intervention is that it is not very effective. It is a short term solution a long lasting complex problem. It doesn’t provide a permanent solution to the problems and the chances of recurrence of the same issue remain high (Rosenberg, 2016).
This report contains the genocide in Rwanda that took place in the year 1994. Rwanda is an African country. It was the biodiversity hotspot of the continent before the genocide took place. The report contains details about the history of Rwanda including the period before the country began a Belgian Colony. The causes leading to the genocide are stated along with the effect of the genocide in the country. A major part of the report is used to explain the reaction of international communities towards the genocide during the period it was being carried on and also after the genocide was over (Bajoria & McMahon, 2013). The international community was highly criticized for ignoring the slaughter and killings that were happening in Rwanda. The genocide not only affected the generation that was present during that period, but continues to have a strong impression on the future generations of the region. The international communities learned a big lesson during after this genocide and several genocide prevention committees were formed there after (BBC News, 2011).
Rwanda was a small country in Africa. The country’s economy was highly dependent on agriculture. During the initial years of 1990s, it became one the most densely populated countries in Africa. The country’s population constituted about 80% of Hutu; 15% of Tutsi and a small percentage of Twa. It was a part of the German East Africa from 1894 to 1918 and after World War I came under the League of Nations mandate of Belgium. During the colonial era, the Belgians were inclined towards the minority i.e Tutsis over the Hutus. This tendency developed an atmosphere of tensions that took the shape of violence before Rwanda gained independence (Eriksson, 1996). A revolution started by the angry Hutus in 1959, forced more than 3,20,000Tutsis to leave the country which consequently reduced the percentage of the already minority group. The Hutus won by 1961 and had successfully made Tutsi monarch into exile and announced Rwanda to be a republic. In 1961, post a U.N. Referendum, Belgium granted freedom to Rwanda in 1962.
The years that followed independence of Rwanda, the country still suffered from ethnically triggered violence.Major General Juvenal Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, was assigned as the leader of a military group in the year 1973. He formed a political party called the National Revolutionary Movement for Develpoment. He was the elected president of the party in 1978, 1983 and 1988. In 1990, Rwandese Patriotic Front that mostly contained Tutsi refugees invaded Rwanda from Uganda (Arnot, 2010). The government decided to negotiate with the RPF in 1992. In the year 1993, Habyarimana signed an agreement in Tanzania that agreed upon the creation of a transition government that would also include the RPF. This agreement did not go down well with the Hutu extremists and they started planning a way to prevent it.
On April 6, 1994, an aircraft that was taking Hanyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprein was shot down above Kigalis and no one survived the attack. The actual culprits behind this attack were never identified. Some people blamed Hutu extremists and some blamed the leaders of the RPF. Two hours after the aircraft accident, the Presidential Guard along with the people from the Rwandan armed forces and Hutu miltia groups started slaughtering Tutis and moderate Hutus mercilessly (Koji, 2003). The violence developed a political vacuum and an interim government consisting of extremist Hutu Power leaders stepped on 10th of April. The mass killings started from Kigali and were spread across the rest of the Rwanda country in no time. Over 8,50,000 people were slaughtered in a period of four months. During this time, government- owned radio stations and local officers suggested Rwandan civilians to kill their own neighbors. In the time being the RPF began fighting and a civil war broke down parallel to the genocide. RFC forces successfully gained control over the majority of the country that also included Kigali. More than 2.5 million people that mostly included Hutus, left Rwanda and landed themselves into refugee camps in Zaire and other surrounding countries (Riemer, 2011).
The success of RPF led to the foundation of a coalition government, similar to the one agreed upon for in Tanzania. Pasteur Bizimungu who was a Hutu was made the president of this new party and Paul Kagame, a Tutsi was the vice president. Habyarimana’s NRMD party that had played a significant part in starting the genocide was outlawed and in 2003 a new constitution was adopted that did not support reference to the ethnicity. This followed Kagame’s election to a 10 year term as a Rwandan president and was Rwanda’s first legislative election (Guraziu, 2008).
In 1860, Rwabugiri came to the throne and took control of the most of the region of the country. His realm was based on feudalism where the Tutsi was the aristrocrat and the Hutu was their vassal. The Hutu and Tutsi were divided by their status and occupation. The Tutsi were the upper class and Hutu were the lower class. Tutsis were mostly herdsmen while Hutus made a living by farming (Hain, 2017).
Before colonization, Rwanda was a very centralized kingdom ruled by Tutsi kings who descended from one ruling clan. The emperor ruled via three categories of chiefs which were the cattle chiefs, the land chiefs and the military chiefs. The chiefs were mostly Tutsi, but there was no rule against appointing any other non-Tutsi chief. The relationship between the king and the remaining population was unequal and exploiting but the relationship between common people either of the same clan or different was of mutual benefit (A&E Television Networks, 2017). The Hutu, Tutsi and Twa usually benefitted from each other by exchanging their labor. As the Germans came as the first colonial conquerors, the social structure became very organized and pyramidal. This hierarchical structure became the basis of the genocide of 1994.
Post the victory of Rwandese Patriotic Front, there was a huge inflow of refugees in the country that included the ones that fled outside the country as well as the one that were internally displaced.TheTutsi population that was forced to leave in the early period pf1959, started coming back in huge numbers. Going by the government figures stated then, almost 800,000 people returned (Africa, 2009). These people benefitted from the international community assistance in the form of aid to families, assistance to government ministries and rehabilitation of community structures and facilities. Despite the measures taken by the international community, a very low percentage of the total efforts were actually accomplished to reintergrate around 2 million new refugees who came had moved to the Congo, Tanazania and Burundi in the months from April and July 1994. The news of fake and real arbitrary arrests, violent treatment and detention of Hutus in the country created a sense of intense fear among the people of the country. The population was already intimidated and threatened and on the top of this the rumors added to the fear of the people (HRW, 2003).
The children of Rwanda witnessed the worst effects of the genocide. During the genocide,children were mercilessly killed and the ones who were not killed were deprived of their families. After the genocide, the children who survived the atrocities continued to suffer from systematic human rights violations every day. The government should have decided to break this cycle of exploitation of around eleven thousand Rwandan Children. In the process of rebuilding the devastated society, restoring the rights of children was completely ignored. Failure of protecting the rights of children would not only affect the present of the country , but would also pose danger to the future of Rwanda. During the time of genocide, children’s rights were highly violated on a very large scale. They were not only raped, killed and tortured, but were also targeted more than the adults because the children were the adults’ weak point. The genocidal logic stated “going after little rats” was more effective than going after the “big rats”. The atrocities on children continued even after the genocide. More than six thousand children were arrested for committing crimes during the genocide before they reached eighteen years of age (Munien & Gahima, 2010). Although these children did not fetch much sympathy, but their rights were originally violated when adults recruited them to carry out violent activities during the genocide. These children were either brainwashed or forced to carry out criminal activities. The government kept promising the release of these minors, but never fulfilled them. The commitment to hear the cases that involved children on priority basis was hollow too. Juvenile defendants were tried at a slower rate than adults.
The genocide had a significant impact on the environment too. Due to a large number of people coming back into the country, it became impossible to accommodate them in the dense forest ecosystem of Rwanda. The land shortage resulted in changing natural habitats into agriculture lands, mining spots and places for other human activities.Due to scarce natural resources, a number of species were poached including elephants, bucks and mountain gorillas for trade. This led to environmental degradation (Ford Institute, 2004).
The Rwandan genocide is popularly known as the genocide where the international countries did not help. The survivors of the genocide often express that they were completely ignored by the world outside Rwanda. During the initial period of the genocide, the UN peacemakers were present in the country, but once the killing started, these people were not in the power to take any actions against the killings as it would breach their monitoring mandate. After the killing of fifteen Belgian UN troop, the number of forces was reduced from 25000 to 240 at their stationed location. The result of this reduction led to the killing of around 5500 Tutsi refugees who were expecting protection but could not get it. The international community had always been reluctant to use the word ‘genocide’ for the incident that happened in Rwanda as this word would call for some action from the outside world and nobody wanted to help (Eriksson, 1996).
France was responsible for providing the Hutus with guns and weapons. The UN planned to send more troops, but the US and Britain were unable to finance this move and hence dropped the idea. On the contrary, the Security Council decided to send French troops in order to create safety in Rwanda. This was known as Operation Turquoise. This did not succeed in creating a safe place as the Tutis were still being killed in the area. More than one million people were killed and the international communities decided to stay quiet.
Belgium had intense political links with the Rwandan government and also was a colonial power in the country. After the genocide, Belgium was in deep shock and began a parliamentary reflection on the incident. On 6th April, 2000, the Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian Prime Minister attended the sixth anniversary of the genocide in Kigali and apologized after six years. He stated that he should have taken the responsibility of his country during the horrible incident. He apologized on behalf of himself, his country and the entire Belgian population (Guraziu, 2008).
After the genocide, Canada along with international councils created the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide, that came into power on January 12, 1951. The aim of this council was to prevent, suppress and punish the people involved in genocide. The convention declared that genocide is considered a crime under international law whether carried out in a war situation or during peace. China’s response to the Genocide was the one full of remorse. China realized that the genocide could have been stopped if the country ceased supplying military arms to the government if the United Nations took the matter of preventing the Genocide seriously. The Rwandan embassy and Chinese communities started conducting events to pay their respect to the lives that were injured and lost during the course of the genocide. These events took place mostly in Beijing and sometimes in Rwanda. They were marked with prayers, silence and presentations depicting the Rwandan history.
The genocide changed Rwanda completely in terms of the social, political and economic aspect. Rwanda before genocide was significantly different from post-genocide Rwanda. The genocide transformed the cultural values of the country. It negatively affected the social trust that kept the people of the country together (Stein, 2016). The psyches of Tutsi and Hutu were re-established after the genocide. Steps were taken by the International community to investigate the genocide, identify the culprits and punish them. For this purpose and International Tribunal was established. The tribunal, however, failed to understand the impact of the genocide and hence could not provide the right type of assistance programs in the country. The biggest flaw of the tribunal was to treat the situation of genocide in the same manner as they would treat a random civil war, in which the international interfered and helped the population that suffered. This approach not only failed to identify the assistance priorities of the sufferers but also reduced the overall effect of the assistance programs. For instance, the international community overlooked the pain of the survivors of the genocide and treated them in a manner similar to any other section of the population. Alternatively, they spent a large number of financial resources to assist the refugees. Even though the refugees did need a lot of support, the facilities and resources should have been balanced between the survivors of the genocide and the refugees (Ludlow, 1999). The international community’s failure to identify the needs of the survivors created distrust and hostility of the Rwandan government towards the United Nation human rights department.
References
A&E Television Networks, 2017. The Rwandan Genocide: background. [Online]Available at: https://www.history.com/topics/rwandan-genocide
Africa, T. F. o., 2009. Ethnicity background and issues : The case of Rwanda, Available at:https://thefutureofafrica.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/ethnicity-background-and-issues-the-case-of-rwanda/
Arnot, C., 2010. What caused the genocide in Rwanda?, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2010/nov/30/rwanda-genocide-research
Bajoria, J. & McMahon, R., 2013. The Dilemma of Humanitarian Intervention, Available at: https://www.cfr.org/humanitarian-intervention/dilemma-humanitarian-intervention/p16524
BBC News, 2011. Rwanda: How the genocide happened, Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486
Eriksson, J., 1996. The International Response to Conflict and Genocide: Lessons from the Rwanda Experience, Available at: https://www.oecd.org/countries/rwanda/50189495.pdf
Ford Institute, 2004. Controversies about humanitarian military intervention, Available at: https://www.fordinstitute.pitt.edu/Portals/0/Pub_PDF/SeyboltChapter1.pdf
Guraziu, R., 2008. Is humanitarian military intervention in the affairs of another state ever justified?, Available at: https://www.atlantic-community.org/app/webroot/files/articlepdf/Is%20humanitarian%20military%20intervention%20ever%20justified.pdf
Hain, A., 2017. The Rwandan Genocide: A case of Ethnic Conflict?, Available at: https://www.academia.edu/1119453/The_Rwandan_Genocide_A_case_of_Ethnic_Conflict
HRW, 2003. Lasting Wounds: Consequences of Genocide and War for Rwanda’s Children, Available at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/04/03/lasting-wounds/consequences-genocide-and-war-rwandas-children
Koji, W., 2003. The Debate on Humanitarian Intervention, Available at: https://www.jcie.org/researchpdfs/HumInterv/human_watanabe.pdf
Ludlow, D., 1999. Humanitarian Intervention and the Rwandan Genocide. The journal of conflict studies, 19(1).
Munien, S. & Gahima, A., 2010. Environmental causes and impacts of the genocide in Rwanda, Available at: https://www.accord.org.za/ajcr-issues/%EF%BF%BCenvironmental-causes-and-impacts-of-the-genocide-in-rwanda/
Riemer, T., 2011. How Colonialism Affected the Rwandan Genocide, Available at: https://umuvugizi.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/how-colonialism-affected-the-rwandan-genocide/
Rosenberg, J., 2016. Rwanda Genocide Timeline: A Timeline of the 1994 Genocide in the African Country of Rwanda, Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/rwanda-genocide-timeline-1779930
Stein, E., 2016. How does a whole country recover from such incredibly extreme internal conflict? How does a whole world recover from such an ignored tragedy?, Available at: https://over1000hills.weebly.com/reactions-to-rwanda.html
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