Genocide: The Worst Humanitarian Disaster Essay

For years, Rwanda has been a hotbed of racial tension. The majority of the Rwandan population is made up of Hutu's, with Tutsi's making up the rest of it. Ever since European colonial powers entered the country and favoured the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutu by putting Tutsi people in all important positions in society, there has been a decisive political divide between the two groups. This favouring of the Tutsi over the Hutu, and the Hutu subjugation as an ethnic lower class resulted in the civil war and revolution of 1959, where the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi dominated government, and resulted in Rwanda gaining their independence in 1962.

According to Daniel Goldhagen, genocides are constantly being underestimated, which causes the never ending realities of the past repeating itself. From high officials to ordinary citizens, people often overlook the pattern and causes of these systematic killings. One of these includes the UN, which was created to prevent another World War, and to protect the rights of sovereignty of member states. This organization serves to solve international issues, but has failed and continues to fail to prevent genocides. Even though this group signed in 1948 a UN document, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which punished and still punishes people guilty of genocide, not one life was ever saved from that declaration. The reason is because most at first want to deny that these extreme situations could happen ever again. Sadly,

6 million exterminated. That number rolls off of our tongues as we sit and learn history in the 6th grade, or we write a paper on WW1. How about 800,000 murdered in 100 days, while Americans attempted to keep our troops of the conflict yet watched the bloody images daily on CNN. Genocide in our world is something that is impossible to justify or embrace, but we must attempt to understand it. It is only through this understanding will we be able to prevent or stop one of the most horrific acts man can do in the future. Genocide, in both the Holocaust and in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, is grounded in self-reification and the external reification of others. This then, when put into certain contexts, can manifest itself in a

The term ‘war’ as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is explained as “a state of armed conflict between different countries or different groups within a country” (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2016). The concept of war has created contrasting views on the relationship between war and genocide as well as the effect that war has on genocide. The term ‘genocide’ literally means ‘the killing of a race’ and is arguably the most atrocious crime conceivable (Gunter, 2011). It is a specific term that refers to crimes that are committed against groups with intent to destroy their existence (Ushmm.org, 2016). There are various motives and numerous reasons as to why genocides may occur, however this paper will seek to address the extent to how, if at all, the concept of war being a necessary condition for the occurrence of genocide, as well as looking at correlations between war and genocide using specific examples to determine whether war is a necessary condition or not.

Darfur is the western region of the African country of Sudan. Currently, the people of Darfur have been continually attacked by the Sudanese army and by proxy-militia controlled by the Sudanese government. Families are being uprooted and starved, children tormented and murdered by the thousands and women raped without punishment. Innocent civilians in Darfur continue to be victims of unthinkable brutality. Many people have become homeless and seek protection in refugee camps in Chad. Yet despite its outward appearance, Darfur has a vast ethnic diversity and a complex, ancient system of resolving conflict. Genocide has occurred in several places around the world, but in Darfur there are certain reasons why it

Genocide, it is not just murder, it is extermination. The world has lost an abounding amount of lives due to the vicious acts of genocide. There have been many ‘preventive’ measures being performed such as the conference in Montreal held in 2007. At said conference the United Nations (officials) not only spoke about preventing genocide, they also listened to 75 year-old, Marika Nene. Nene experienced the anti-gypsy massacres that occurred during World War II. “I had no choice. I had to give myself up to the soldiers (...) they violated me. I still have nightmares about it.” Genocide has affected millions of lives and Marika Nene is just one of them. Many have often inquired the following question, ‘can the world resolve the problem of genocide?’

Many times we may hear but not respond, we see and don’t move and having the ability to take action we don’t even move a finger until the situation is out of control. It’s amazing how ignorant and stubborn the human race can be. This is exactly the response of many nations when it comes to genocide. Genocide is the systematic killing of all the people from a national, ethnic, or religious group. Two of the most recent genocides in history are the genocide of Rwanda and the genocide of Cambodia.

“Genocide: the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation” (Merriam Webster, Incorporated, 2013). Today the term varies, as different aspects of harm are included, ranging from murder, to serious mental harm.Genocide was first declared an international crime by the United Nations General Assembly in 1942. Genocides have occurred across the world, and share many common factors. Throughout the 19th century mass murder and rape swept across the world, many of which sharing common influences. The most infamous mass killing, the Holocaust is known around the world, however many fail to acknowledge similar tragedies throughout world history. Both the Rwandan Genocide and the Holocaust

Genocide is one of the evillest moral crimes any ruling authority such as a government can commit against its people and it happens more than we think. A general definition of Genocide is the intention to destroy or murder people because of their race, beliefs, or even political and economic status. As we have been taught in this course Raphael Lemkin, created the term ‘Genocide’ 1944. Lemkin combined the ancient Greek word ‘genos’ which means race and the Latin word ‘cide’ which translates to killing. There are many examples of genocide in the world but the most recognizable is that of the Holocaust and how the German powers that be sought and attempted to kill all Jews. A recent example is the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 where the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana caused a violent reaction resulting in mass killings. In efforts to reduce Genocide, the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UNCG) was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and was placed in force in 1951. On July 1, 2002 the International Criminal Court (ICC) came into force. The ICC not only accepted the UNCG’s definition of Genocide but expanded it to include crimes against humanity such as enslavement, deportation, torture, rape, enforced disappearance and apartheid. There have been many organizations created throughout the world to defend and prevent genocide and even communities, religions and even colleges are forming organizations and these are just some examples of how

Imagine living a life of fear, turmoil, with death all around. Hearing gun shots being fired, death chants, machete use, dead bodies everywhere. Afraid to close your eyes at night to rest, yet more afraid to wake up in the morning. To sustain your life and the life of your loved ones you must hide out, kill others, watch your neighbors be killed at the hands of the enemy. Knowing if you are caught you could be forced to murder your own family, be raped, be held captive, be starved to death, and most likely be killed. In 1994, this was the life many faced in Rwanda. “Rwanda has become a synonym for one of the worst genocides of the 20th century (Lemarchand, (n.d.), p. 483).

The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal

The world’s history has been tainted by many instances of violence targeted at specific groups of people due to either their ethnicity or beliefs. This paper will discuss the characteristics of the Rwanda Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. The Rwanda Genocide targeted the Tutsis because of their ethnicity, while the Holocaust targeted the Jews because of their ethnicity and religion.

Over 62,587,797 and counting innocent people have lost their lives due to past and ongoing acts of genocide. Throughout this research paper you will learn about past genocides, genocide today, and what needs to be done to stop it. Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people. Genocide in Darfur today has claimed over 400,000 lives and displaced over 2,500,000 people. More than 100 people die each day; 5 thousand die every month. It is an unpleasant situation, that has gone on for over 100 years in numerous countries. 5,290,000 people died in the Holocaust death camps, due to Adolf Hitler believing that the Jews were the cause of Germany’s economic crisis and began what was called the “ Final Solution”. Genocide is unacceptable,

Genocide is a very complex item to address. But to deeply and successfully address such a topic, it is a must to look deeper than the actions that have been displayed. But to understand the motives of genocide, one must know the correct definition of genocide. “Genocide,” a term used to describe violence against members of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group with the intent to destroy the entire group…” (What is...). Now fully understanding what genocide is, it will be easier to understand what motivates individuals in the past, present, and future to attempt genocide. A lot of questions have been made on what the motivation is of genocide. It is actually quite simple when thought about. The most common motivations are convenience, revenge, simple fear, and fear of pollution. Although there have been many different genocides in the world, it seems as if the motives in sequential order are convenience, revenge, fear of pollution, and simple fear. There are a large number of people who would like to say that mass genocides are okay. They would like to say that the killing of numerous amounts of people helps keep the world safe from over population and also helps keep people afraid of their superiors. Although using genocide as a solution is a very harsh choice of action, it has helped keep populations of races down, and has also shown civilians what the power of their government is. The purpose

This essay will review the documentary – “Road to Genocide” where Christian paramilitaries in Central African Republic (CAR) carried out ethnic cleansing of the Muslim population during the state’s ongoing civil war. At the very outset of this video, a crumbling Central Africa is portrayed with utter mayhem, horrendous acts of violence and human massacres. We will elaborate on how conflict in this particular context is accentuated with reference to its socio-economic, cultural, historical and political factors.