History Essay Example: Failures of the International Actors in Rwanda Genocide

The genocide war in Rwanda left many people dead, and others seriously injured that even in years some were still nursing their emotional wounds that were left by the death of their loved ones. Even after getting the superiority recognition worldwide, the US, and France had the capability to prevent the war in Rwanda that would have saved more than 1.5 million people in the country and yet they failed. The UN was formed after the Second World War to prevent any case of human rights violation across the world. However, as it turned out in Rwanda, it indicated that the organization had utterly failed in its primary function of protecting the life of the innocent civilians that it was created for. The international actors like US, France, and UN organization had failed in their functions in protecting the lives of many innocent during the genocide in Rwanda that left over 1.5 million civilians dead and more than two million people without proper homesteads.

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The first failure of the international actors includes reluctance and ignorance about the war and yet they had information prior the breakout of war. As presented by De Forges and Kuperman (2000), the US government and other international actors like the UN had the information about the war prior its emergence. According to De Forges and Kuperman (2000), the US government had obtained information about the attack on the Tutsi soldiers some months prior the attacks that followed later (p. 141). As De Forges and Kuperman (2000) explain, the CIA study of three months revealed that there was to attack the Tutsi. Such response indicated that the US government had the capability of preventing the war because by then they had every resource that would help prevent the deaths of many innocent people. The authors further explain how the US government had the information and yet there is nothing that they did to help the situation. The manner in which the international actors responded to the matter is also pointed out by De Forges and Kuperman in their article. The UN had the responsibility of protecting the rights of innocent civilians in Rwanda before even the war emerged. According to De Forges and Kuperman (2000), the UN also had the same information that the US government had and yet no response was witnessed even two weeks later when many people had been massacred by the bandits. The authors further criticize the sluggish response by the US government and the UN organization in an attempt to prevent the war outbreak in Rwanda.

The second failure by the international actors in preventing the genocide war in Rwanda is racial discrimination that was witnessed during the war. As presented by De Forges and Kuperman (2000), the international actors placed their military resources to protect the interest of their people. The Africans in Rwanda were left to suffer their fate while the US government, French government, and the UN peacekeeping forces passed through the border to rescue the white missionaries in the area. As De Forges and Kuperman (2000) reports, the peacekeeping forces concentrated only on the white people some who were not even in danger. As a global peacekeeping organization like the UN and other actors like the US, Belgium and French forces which had the capability of preventing the war reluctantly watched as the innocent Africans get slaughtered in the hands of the brutal bandits. The US, French, Belgium and UN forces would have combined the effort of their forces and other resources they had to prevent the war that would have saved more than a million people in Rwanda.

Another major failure by the international actors is running away from a problem that they would have solved. Preventing the genocide would not have caused either the UN or the US government a lot because they had the capability to do it. As Kuperman (1999) explains, trying to evacuate the foreigners in Rwanda and leaving the Africans to continue suffering was not the best strategies. According to De Forges and Kperman (2000), the western countries would have provided the military assistance that they had the capabilities of providing. This showed that the western nations neglected the African states to solve their problems on their own. If the US had taken control of the region as they had information prior the outbreak of the war, it would have shown the togetherness that the United Nations Organization claim. Evacuating their members from Rwanda showed that Africans were not members of the UN.

Another failure by the international actors is a failure to provide for the people who suffered the war. Two years down the line, most of the survivors of Rwanda genocide immigrated to the neighboring countries majorly Tanzania where they went to seek refuge (Goins, 1999). Most people died in Rwanda not as a result of war but as a result of hunger and lack of basic needs of life. The UN and other international actors failed in their primary responsibility of protecting the vulnerable like the innocent Africans that were massacred in Rwanda. The superpower country like the US failed in bringing balance in Rwanda. This further showed the disparity between the African countries and the Western nations. The UN and other international actors would have taken responsibility to prevent the outbreak of Genocide war in Rwanda (Goins, 1999). Many people stayed outside the border of Rwanda because they feared that the war might reemerge again. Some of them went back even ten years later to trace their root. The international actors had the responsibilities and all the machinery to prevent the war that would have saved many lives and a lot of wealth and properties that were wasted during the war. Setting the difference between Africans and the westerners would have assisted to prevent the war. Helping the victims to come back to their country and assist them to settle would have shown the determination of the UN and other international actors.

Word Count: 1000

The importance of norm of responsibility to protect

After the World War II, the world was left in a state that required some formal and standard behavior that would prevent such terrible experience from occurring again. The war was majorly caused by the difference in ideologies between diverse nations across the world. Therefore, various countries came together to establish a body that would ensure that peace is kept in the world. The UN was established with the aim of keeping peace and solving the differences that might result in conflict between boundaries of various countries. many people died during the world war I and II that raised a concern of some countries that held the superiority of the world like the US and Britain. As Thakur and Weiss (2009) explain, the main aim of establishing a common and standard behavior was to protect the human life. The world feared of going the same experiences experienced during the first and Second World War that left most countries devastated. Therefore, the establishment of UN was to prevent any other form of human rights violation in any form. Through the R2P formulation, the UN was equipped to establish a global governance system that would ensure peaceful coexistence between diverse states. The R2P policy formulation was to ensure common governance, protect the human rights in every country and punish the perpetrator of war or violence. The responsibility of the international organizations is to protect the reemergence of war as the first and Second World War that left many people dead and others nurturing the injuries and losses.

The norm of the international organizations as described by Thakur and Weiss (2009) has ensured peaceful coexistence between various states. The responsibility to protect everyone irrespective of ethnic background, color or demographic region has significantly assisted in keeping peace in the world. As Thakur and Weiss (2009) explain, violence is one of the peace threatening factors in the world. Therefore, the establishment of the United Nations Organization was to prevent violence from erupting from any part of the world. As Bellamy (2011) explains, the international organizations have played an important role in reducing conflict in various countries across the world. For instance, the case of Libya is an example of determination and commitment of the international organizations to prevent war and protect the human rights. Bellamy (2011) explains the functions of the international organizations in an attempt to reduce the humanitarian crisis in Libya. For instance, the assessment of the crisis in Libya by the UN Secretariat through the prism of RtoP and making clarifications on the seriousness of the crisis in Libya (Bellamy, 2011, p. 264). Bellamy (2011) recognizes the activeness of the UN and other international organizations in reducing the crisis in Libya during the Qaddafis regime. For example, Organization of the Islamic Conference, League of Arab States, and the Gulf Cooperation Council played a significant role in bringing back peace in Libya through the implementation of their no-fly zone policy greatly assisted to end the regime as Qaddafi was left alone without allies, thus, weakening his government. Welsh (2011) further recognize the role of the UN Security Council in eradicating the mass atrocities across the world. Through the 1973 Security Council resolution that ensured the establishment of proper policies that were aimed at protecting the vulnerable people or nations, the UN has managed to exercise the responsibility to protect of the international organizations. Bellamy (2008) explains the responsibility to protect policy has ensured peaceful coexistence between diverse territories. According to Bellamy (2008), the UN through its Security Council policies has managed to reduce mass atrocities in many countries across the world. Some countries like Libya and Darfur in Sudan where violence has been the order of the order, the UN together with other international organizations have managed to bring back the peace that never existed for many years. According to Bellamy (2008), R2P is the most sophisticated way of eradicating the mass atrocities and implementing the humanitarian intervention policies. However, as De Waal (2007) explains, sometimes the responsibility to protect slogan cannot work in some other places like it failed in Darfur. According to De Waal (2007), sometimes the military intervention might be the most appropriate in critical situations although it is greatly discouraged. Military intervention is said to cause more damage than repair in a situation where there is a serious conflict. According to De Waal (2007), in a situation where the hosting government has refused to corporate with the international organizations like the case of Darfur where President Omar Al Bashir rejected and refused to comply with the UN security council resolution of 1706, the organizations are allowed to use military intervention. The main aim of the international organizations like the UN and AU is to protect the human rights and eradicate mass atrocities in countries where violence is the order of the day as the case of Darfur, Syria and Somalia. The UN together with the help of other international organizations like AU has managed to bring peace in countries where peace was not expected. Although the issue of Darfur has not been solved completely but to some extent there has been a change and in some parts of Sudan people live not in fear of their lives as the days when the two countries, Southern, and Northern Sudan were merged. Since the takeover by the UN peacekeeping forces (AMIS), the region has had some peaceful days even though war is still there. As De Waal (2007) explains, the success of the international organizations in their operations of peacekeeping depends with the corporation of the hos...