In the first half of 1994, Rwanda lost approximately 800,000 citizens due to tribal clashes that led to what is referred to now as the Rwandan Genocide. I can apply several concepts that I have learned about human rights on this incident after reading an article by Helen C Epstein on The Guardian, and watching the movie, “Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire.” Lowery and Spalding explain that human rights are typically divided into two broad categories: political and civil rights and economic, social, and cultural rights (19). Arguably, both these categories relate to the Rwandan genocide. According to the documentary, the failure to observe the civil and political rights category by both Rwandese citizens and the global platform significantly lead to the genocide. According to Romeo, his job was to ensure that soldiers were deployed to help the country hold peaceful elections (Hearts.and.Minds 00:18:23-00:19:35). However, the global platform refused to deploy the needed soldiers, which led to the beginning of the war. Additionally, the article relates to the second category learned as it highlights how social and cultural elements affect human rights (Epstein).
Nationalism and ethnicity played a significant role in the war. Regarding ethnicity, the social and cultural differences between the two largest ethnic groups were extremely pronounced at the time. As Lowery and Spalding explain, politics in the region was primarily influenced by ethnicity (12). The scholars explain that the minority Tutsi were seen as the ruling ethnic community as a majority of top government positions were explicitly reserved for people in this ethnic group. This meant that the division of resources was also viewed to be biased – favoring the Tutsi. The combined hatred coupled with the cultural differences gave rise to a group of rebellious Hutus who also killed Hutus, who appeared sympathetic to the Tutsis.
On the other hand, the issue of nationalism manifested itself in the international scene’s reaction after the beginning of the Rwanda Civil War. Lowery and Spalding explain that the war had started several years prior, and international players had provided support to help stop the war (21). However, when the genocide began, the majority of the nations around the world sent airplanes to the country to withdraw their expatriates (Hearts.and.Minds 00:24:23-00:24:56).
Many believe that the US had a role to play in ending the war before the mass slaughter of the Tutsi people (Lowery and Spalding 13). Arguably, the US would have sent more peacekeeping missions, through the UN, to the country. Arguably, the decision to withdraw the UN diplomatic undertakings from the country (Hearts.and.Minds 00:39:23-00:40:49) would have been reverted if the US had supported the push to have more mediation troops in Rwanda. Indeed, the western world turned its back on human rights on those 100 days that constituted the Rwandan genocide.
As mentioned, the fact that many countries were able to enter Rwanda and withdraw their expatriates indicates that whereas human rights support the ideology that all humans are equal, the western world believed that their citizens were above the dying Rwandan citizens (Hearts.and.Minds 00:24:23-00:26:06). Interestingly, some individual citizens put their lives at risk with no support from their governments to save some citizens who were at risk. Regardless of the reasons these countries gave after the genocide, one thing is clear: the world learned the importance of human rights in the survival of humankind.
References
Epstein, C. Helen. “America’s Secret Role in the Rwandan Genocide.” The Guardian, 2017, Web.
Lowery, Zoe, and Frank Spalding. The Rwandan Genocide. The Rosen Publishing Group, 2016.
“Shake Hands with the Devil: The journey of Romeo Dallaire – Documentary.” YouTube, uploaded by Hearts.and.Minds, 2017, Web.