The Human Right Watch Has Raised Serious Concerns On The Crimes Of Genocide With Fairness

On the day of April 6th 1994, the mass murders sparked a ferocious wave of bloody reprisals as thousands of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered over the next three months, killing almost 10,000 people everyday. Hutu extremists were told to load up on weapons like knives, guns, axes, whatever they could find so they could kill tutsis. They could do whatever they wanted to the Tutsis. The Hutu government said “Spare no one, especially the babies.” The Hutus goal was to kill every Tutsi in Rwanda. As told by Border guards, people have been floating down the river in hundreds everyday for weeks. Many bodies had their hands tied behind their backs. They were either shot, hacked, clubbed, burned, or drowned.

The Europeans regarded Hutu and Twa (about 3% of the population) as inferior to Tutsi. Sixty years of such prejudicial fabrications inflated Tutsi egos inordinately and crushed Hutu feelings, which coalesced into an aggressively resentful inferiority complex.”

In the Article, the Justice on a hill George Packer criticized Rwanda’s method of reconciliation after the Genocide. Gacaca is Rwanda’s way of pursuing justice and the countries attempt to move on from the Genocide. Rwanda’s way of conveying justice may or may not be affective depending on the individual. Gacaca un like a traditional court room allowed the public to be both present and contribute to the dependents prosecution. Gacaca contains “260,00 people of integrity” pg 61. Packer questions Gacaca, stating that is a paradox because survivors of the genocide would be the one to judge. Despite Packer’s opinion about Gacaca most of the people of Rwanda support it.

In 1994, Rwanda’s population was made up of three ethnic groups, the Hutus, the Tutsi, and the Twas. Hutu extremists blamed the Tutsi for their country’s social, economic, and political problems. Because of this, The Hutu extremists decided to kill the Tutsi and the Hutus who were opposed to the extremists. “In the early 1990s, hutu extremists within Rwanda’s political elite blamed the entire Tutsi minority population for the country’s increasing social, economic, and political pressures.” This shows that human rights are being violated because one ethnic group decided to blame a minority population for their country’s growing problems. The extremists decided they wanted control back and because of this they felt it was justified to kill as

Historical Context: The Rwanda Genocide was a genocidal slaughter of the Tutsi’s by the Hutu’s, taking place in 1994. This event was a shock to the world, as 1,000,000 Rwandans were killed within the space of 100 days. The atrocity took place following the Civil War, an on-going conflict that had reached a conclusion in 1993, which many Hutu’s weren’t happy with. As a result, in 1994, Hutu’s within the army, police, Government backed militias and the civilian population turned on the Tutsi’s. This mass slaughter marked a significant disruption to World Order, due to the large number of deaths and the inaction of the world to reinstate peace in Rwanda. Nations who faced criticism for their lack of action include; the US, UK and Belgium, who failed to support the UN peacekeeping troops in Rwanda.

The first person arrested was the past mayor of Taba, Jean-Paul Akayesu in 1998 who was convicted of genocide. Over 120,000 people are jailed. A day after Jean Paul Akayesu the prime minister of Rwanda Jean Kambanda with multiple convictions of genocide and crimes against humanity and conspires. After the genocide it is believed that 750,000 Tutsis, 50,000 moderate Hutus and 10,000 to over 100,000 Hutus were killed. In 2002 the Rwanda government released a statement saying that 1,074,017 people were killed. Now the RPF controls the government, but they have turned a lot of blind eyes on RPF soldiers that did inhumane actions. The economy is having a tough time growing thanks to the genocide and loses of land. Rwanda is getting back on its feet and even though it’s facing hard times it is still trying to

For the past month, people have now just been informed about a war that is going on between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. This has been going on for about a month and it seems like the death toll is rising rapidly. The assailants of this current genocide are the Hutus. They are targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents. This is because the Tutsis have dominated Rwanda for a while and the majority being the Hutus demand change. With the help of accurate organisation, lists of government opponents are handed out to militias who kill them, along with all of their family members.

Genocide is one of the inhumane crimes ruling authorizes can do to their own people or

The Rwandan genocide was a period of the Rwandan civil war where the Rwandan armed forces and Hutus killed at least 500 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus from April 6 to July 15, 1994 (Rwandan Genocide, 2016). Women were particularly victimized and continue to be affected today by the genocide because of the lasting impacts including trauma from sexual violence, suffering from the intentional transmission of HIV, and being forced to bear children of rape (Mullins, 2009, 722; Donovan, 2002, 17; Human Rights Watch, 2006). However, women were granted some restitution through traditional community justice, the Gacaca courts, with some women even holding positions as judges (Ka Hon Chu & de Brouwer, 2011, 203; Issifu, 2015, 71).

We have seen that the key question to understand the conflict in Rwanda is to remember that both Hutus and Tutsis are political identities imposed by the state. During 1994 some were killed because they 'looked like Tutsis' and others killed because 'they thought they would probably be Hutus'. Conflicts such as those in Rwanda, which result from the weakening of state power, which is responsible for preserving laws and guaranteeing justice, occur in the midst of failed states. This situation is the perfect incubator of generalized internal violence, both prior to conflicts and during and after them. It is in events like these where international humanitarian law plays a preponderant role. However, there are no safe ways to

During this stage, extremists drive the groups apart. A form of polarization in genocide is when hate groups broadcast and print polarizing propaganda. Public demonstrations of separation are organized. The Hutu Power’s most dangerous and useful weapon was the radio. This was the most significant way to polarize the groups by constantly broadcasting for the death of all Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Tutsis and moderate Hutus were not separated physically; Tutsis and Hutus lived together, were neighbors, until the call for the murder of all Tutsis. Hutu Power trained Rwandans to practice prejudice against Tutsis on a daily basis. In line with its ideology of the “social revolution,” the new Hutu elite developed a policy of systematic discrimination against Tutsi, especially in areas of political power (the arm, the government, the single party) and of vertical mobility (education, foreign training, state jobs) (Uvin, 1997). This polarized Tutsis and Hutus early on, years before the genocide started, yet was intensified in the early moths before genocide. To prevent this stage, society must vigorously protest laws or policies that segregate or marginalize groups, or that deprive groups of citizenship rights (Stanton,

Genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, political, or cultural group”. In Rwanda for example, the Hutu-led government embraced a new program that called for the country’s Hutu people to murder anyone that was a Tutsi (Gourevitch, 6). This new policy of one ethnic group (Hutu) that was called upon to murder another ethnic group (Tutsi) occurred during April through June of 1994 and resulted in the genocide of approximately 800,000 innocent people that even included women and children of all ages. In this paper I will first analyze the origins/historical context regarding the discontent amongst the Hutu and Tutsi people as well as the historical context as to why major players in the international

From April to June of 1994, in Rwanda, Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically killed in one of the worst genocides of the 20th century. In these three months, it was estimated that more than a million Tutsis were murderered.(“Statistics | Survivors Fund,” n.d.) About six people a minute were murdered, every minute of every day for these three months(“Statistics | Survivors Fund,” n.d.) In addition to the mass murder of Tutsis, mass rape (especially by HIV positive men) was used as a weapon. Approximately half a million women were raped and of those more than 2/3 eventually contracted HIV as a result. More than 20,000 children were born out of rape in the months following the genocide(“Statistics | Survivors Fund,” n.d.). This genocide was especially unique in that, it was carried out by normal citizens of the country rather than generals or government officials. Neighbors murdered neighbors and former friendly acquaintances were attacked by people they knew (Staub, 2004).

In the first days of April 1994, the radio broadcast the names and addresses of Tutsi and moderate Hutu politicians on the primary death list. Its infamous message was simple: “The grave is only half-full; who will help us fill it?” Militiamen went to “work”-often observing normal office hours- with a machete in one hand and transistor radio in the other” (Peterson 256) The authority of the Hutu government to call for ethnic cleansing was unquestionable in the minds of the Hutus who carried out the murders, and committing genocide was considered part of 5their moral imperative as Hutus.

The film, Beyond the Gates, shows audiences the horror that took place during the Rwandan genocide. Shot in the same area as the actual genocide took place, the film tells the story of the Hutu extremist attempt at destroying the countries minority group known as the Tutsi. Many human rights violations were shown in this movie, shedding light on the real issue of how the international community failed to intervene during this time of crisis and prevent the deaths of thousands of people. A few examples of human rights violations during this movie will be discussed in order to create awareness about the many human rights that were violated during the actual Rwandan genocide.