2 Peers Posts Using Rwandan Genocide
After viewing the video Genocide: The Horror Continues and reading the brief from the United Nations International Tribunal for Rwanda, answer the following questions:
You can find the captioned version of this video here.
- Should the United States have taken the lead in getting the international community to intervene and try to stop this atrocity? Explain.
- After reading the brief and learning about the challenges faced, do you think the United Nations International Tribunal for Rwanda and the international justice system, as a whole, can make a difference?
Respond to the 2 peers posts using guidelines below as well!
In response to your peers’ posts, comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the international justice system versus U.S. law in relation to this example.
I believe that the U.S. should have taken the lead in getting the international community to intervene and stop the atrocity that was going on in Rwanda. The U.S plays a leading role in the world and that is the main reason they should have stepped up. The United States knew what was happening in Rwanda while it was happening and chose not to help or intervene. There is evidence that if President Clinton had decided to step in and react, he would have has the support of congress. Instead, Clinton wanted to leave it to the Rwandan government and rebels and the United Nations peacekeeping mission to end the violence. The word genocide was avoided so that we would not have to react to the killings in Rwanda. Instead of intervening, more than 800,000 Rwandans were brutally murdered in the span of just 100 days. I do think that the United Nations International Tribunal for Rwanda and the international justice system as a whole can make a difference. The ICTR helped to bring justice to all those effected by the genocide in Rwanda. It also serves as an eye opener to countries that these atrocities will not be tolerated in the future.
Baldauf, Scott. (2009) Why the US didn’t intervene in the Rwandan Genocidehttps://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2009/0407/p06s14-woaf.html
The ICTR in Brief (2015) retrieved from http://unictr.irmct.org/en/tribunalAlso come
The United States is one of the most influential country in the whole world. We are the “free world”, and things we do and do not do have a lasting effect on the international community. Should we have gotten involved and intervene is the genocide? Yes, it was a failure in our government to not act. President Clinton’s administration was still fairly new to the presidency and didn’t fully grasp what was going on in Africa. According to “How America Did Nothing to Stop the Genocide” it states that that the government “believed what was happening in Rwanda did not affect US national interests.”(Bissell, 2017) We have to understand that our involvement may have affected us on an economic level, the potential for another war, the lost of Amercian lives. Yet, looking at the full picture we allowed millions of innocent lives to be taken over evil leaders of that nation. There were many signs and events that led to the genocide that the world decided to ignore. Not only did we not get involved but other countries didn’t as well. The President, his cabinet and Congress, all should share part of the blame in regards to the events that occurs.
It was not till after the atrocity that the United Nations began to hold many of the people involved accountable for their actions. The United Nations International Tribunal for Rwanda and the international justice system can make a difference. The “ICTR” since becoming involved has indicted 93 of the member involved in Rwanda. This has given justice to the people of Rwanda and set the base and tone from actions like this ever happen again.
Alex
ReferencesBissell, J. (2017, September 25). How America Did Nothing to Stop a Genocide. Retrieved from https://www.fairobserver.com/region/africa/us-national-security-strategy-rwanda-genocide-africa-analysis-17002/
United NationsInternational Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://unictr.irmct.org/en/tribunal