Humans tend to feel morally compelled to help others in times of tragedy and chaos; however, there are limitations on the force of compassion. During recent and historical genocides, many outsiders’ universes of obligation have narrowed due to social and political factors, turning them into bystanders of ethnic crisis. Similarly, the world was unresponsive to the ethnic eradication of Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1983. For twenty-six years, tens of thousands of helpless Tamils suffered as human shields for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and were caught in the crossfire of a civil war between the extremist group and the national government. The collective desire for the United States, UN, and Sri Lankan government to maintain …show more content…
This conflict of personal versus moral obligations caused the officials to disregard the Tamils and delay their liberation. The weakness of the UN’s management also permitted this, as there was no decisive authority figure or clear command to guide them toward intervention (Bhalla). Without true leadership, the workers were allowed to make decisions for themselves, fostering a selfish mentality as their responsibilities to the world were forgotten and ethnic obliteration persisted.
To this day, the Sri Lankan government acts as a perpetrator for the ongoing tensions by seeking vengeance from the LTTE and attempting to conceal their crimes. It was found in 2013 that there was an “absence of first-person newspaper reports and independent television footage” and that the government “repeatedly alleged that there were no civilian casualties during the war” in order to cover up the atrocities they committed against the Tamils (Nelson; Legal). By making media coverage of Sri Lanka unavailable, the government tried to put up a respectable image for the world to lessen the international backlash. The reality of the genocide was hidden from the world public and left them as an unknowing bystander since individuals weren’t informed enough to protest against the brutality. This prevented the Tamils from receiving the international help they needed and prolonged the ethnic extermination.
In Rwanda during 1994 Genocide happened between the Hutus and Tutsis. Hutus and Tutsis had disagreements on who will have power which effected the whole population of Rwanda. This leads to the question why there is Genocide in Rwanda? Genocide happened by two clans who caused mass causalities. Others did little to help which caused Genocide to happen in Rwanda.
to religion” (Pape pg. 9). The Tamil Tigers committed 76 of the 315 suicide attacks. The author
Throughout history, instances of genocide, mass murder, and extreme acts of violence are widespread and pervade through every culture and society. As demonstrated by Panh, Lifton, and O’Brien, similar examples of excessive violence can occur in widely different situations. In order for such violence to occur, there first must exist certain systematic factors. In this paper, I will argue that conditions of instability within a country allow for changes in belief and perception, and these changed perceptions leads to dehumanization and the loss of human rights. The Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide and the Vietnam War, all follow this pattern to some extent. First, I will compare and contrast the ways in which the Holocaust and Cambodian genocide follow this pattern, as well as explore the separate factors within each and possible solutions to these factors. Next, I will discuss the dramatically different Vietnam War, compare and contrast it to the other two, and explore how the uniqueness of the Vietnam War impacts the possible solutions for the loss of human rights within this situation.
In the past 150 years, tens of millions of men, women and children have lost their lives to ethnic cleansing or genocide. Although the definition is often scrutinized, according to Merriam Webster, "Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group". The most notable event associated with the term is the Holocaust. Stated by Judah Gribets, Edward Greenstein and Regina Stein, "nearly six million Jews fell victim to genocide during the years of the Holocaust". Of This number, one million were children who were unable to take care of themselves. People's hopes and dreams for the future were stripped from them, and many families were ripped apart. Many of these people were tortured or raped
Should the United Nations intervene in cultural atrocities, or is protecting a State’s autonomy more important? First of all, the United Nations must learn early detection methods, in hopes to stop genocides from even starting! Secondly, if early detection methods fail on occasions, the international community needs to forget about protecting a sovereign State’s autonomy and be ready and willing to step in and help! Intervening may be expensive, and it may require the use of resources, but the lives of innocent civilians are worth more than money or resources can supply. After all, what is worse: a group or individual who commits heinous crimes, or those who choose to ignore them and let the casualties
The United Nations has described it as "the world's worst humanitarian crisis". As of 2003, the Darfur genocide is being carried out by the Sudanese armed forces and funded Arab militias known as the Janjaweed. These militias are historic rivals of the rebel groups known as the Sudanese Liberation Movement (SLM), and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). Darfur is a region in western Sudan on the border of Chad, Libya, and the Central African Republic. Darfur is estimated to have about 6 million people living there. The conflict started in 2003 and has continued through today. The Janjaweed were accused of oppressing Darfur's non-Arab population. The Janjaweed are destroying Darfurians by burning villages, polluting water, murdering, raping
The slaughtering of 1.5 million innocent people at the hands of a cruel failing empire. Families and friends torn apart for no reason and all while being silenced from the rest of the world. The Armenian Genocide was swept under the rug by the successor to the Ottoman empire, the Turkish Republic. The cruelty in slaughtering millions of people, to using them for slave labor, and numerous death camps for women and children the Armenian Genocide was a tragic time in the history of Armenians and they are being denied recognition for their ancestors tragic loss of life. The crimes against humanity caused by the Ottomans and the Turks in the killing of millions of people is further inflated by the deliberate withholding
Humanitarian crises and international politics goes hand in hand. One can cause the other, while the only way to fix the other is to rely on politics. This paper will highlight the cause of genocide, violent massacres and crisis, how to solve them, and key roles politicians and nations must take up wholeheartedly in order to make a difference. Personal and political reconciliation must occur in the parties involved ever want to have a mutual co existence.
Creating relations between races and ethnicity's has always been vital to the success of the world. The United States and the international community have been, more often than not, late to stop violent acts against humanity. It took decades after the United Nations was created, and after a horrendous genocide in Rwanda, for the International Criminal Court to be created. Despite these two establishments created for international peace and security, crimes against humans rights are still occurring.When human rights are being violated, it is necessary for the U.S. and its allies to intervene in ethnic conflicts. While others may say humanitarian intervention goes against a state’s sovereign authority,it is necessary to protect
Even with this very clear definition of genocide the United Nations Security Council still proved ineffective in preventing the genocide that occurred in Rwanda between the Hutu and Tutsi people. There are a number of theories as to why the U.N. was so inefficient in preventing the genocide such as : there was little political will to intervene from Western countries, the tragedy which had recently occurred in Somalia, and the overlooking of early warning signs.
Steven Pinker implied that, “As long as your ideology identifies the main source of the world's ills as a definable group, it opens the world up to the mass murder of people” (1). Steven Pinker revealed an interesting side to the controversial topic of mass murders and the causes of them. He revealed that as long as people in this world believe that they are better than other due to their race, religion, and everything else that defines a group of people as different from another group of people. People are and have been wrongfully treated differently due to the incompetence of some to realize that everyone is equal. They often believe that they were superior to others because of their physical attributes and beliefs that they had. The Holocaust is a major example of the ignorance of some in history. This ignorance often resulted in the murders and mistreatment of many. Elie Wiesel was one of the six million plus people who were wrongfully mistreated during the Holocaust. Many believe that this sort of event could not occur in the current time period because people have become more civilized and tolerable to the differences of others, but sadly the world is not ready to contain a social utopia. The mass murder, and violence that is occurring in Darfur is one of the many things that shows that the world is far from achieving this social utopia. Throughout history, many occurrences of genocide have occurred due to the diversity of people and even though society has evolved
One particular case that has been studied recently is the Rwandan Genocide that occurred in 1994. The Rwandan Genocide remains one of the fastest and most brutal cases of genocide in modern history (Temitope and Danjibo 2013). In the years leading up to the genocide there was a civil war between the Government of Rwanda (led by Hutu General Habyarimana) and the Tutsi expat group, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, who had been in exile in Uganda (Buhr 2015). Following the cease-fire agreement in 1993, there were signs that the agreement would not hold despite the presence of UN peacekeepers (Buhr 2015). In April 1994 General Habyarimana was assassinated, and violence ensued (Buhr 2015). Tutsis were blamed for the death of Habyarimana, despite a lack of evidence (Buhr 2015). From April to July of 1994 vengeful Hutus slaughtered approximately one million Tutsis (Temitope and Danjibo 2013).
"The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: The Nazi Holocaust 1938-45." The History Place - Genocide in the 20th Century: The Nazi Holocaust 1938-45. The History Place, n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
Before watching this documentary from Frontline, I had never realized about the atrocities that had occurred in Rwanda in 1994. I had been naive in not realizing that mass genocidal killings like the ones shown were happening in our modern world. It was my assumption that international organizations like the United Nations or the United States would take action to prevent these horrendous acts from occurring. It was deeply shocking and overwhelming to see the horrendous acts humans were doing to each other. The murderers in Rwanda acted like savage animals without society or government to stop them from killing 800,000 innocent people. The most interesting aspect of the documentary was learning that the international community failed on purpose and let hundreds of thousands of people die.
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