This video focuses primarily on Rwanda's recovery and an interview with a member of the United Nations and his thoughts on the heinous crimes which were committed by the genocide. One of the main opinions expressed by United Nations member, Francis Deng, was that it was saddening that there was a large global response after the genocide, but that during the genocide virtually nothing was done. I find it shocking that I genocide could kill nearly a million people in 100 days and that virtually none of the countries in the world were there to help Rwanda in what may have been its darkest hour. I personally find it to be upsetting that as soon as the genocide in Rwanda ended many countries began to help because they suddenly had very little to lose by helping the Rwandans. Many of these countries claimed that they either didn’t know what was going on, weren’t able to get troops there to help, or they admitted they wouldn’t send troops to Rwanda because they had nothing to gain and a lot to lose. Throughout the genocide the ICRC continued to help every Rwandan who needed attention and risked their lives to help the Rwandans overcome the injustices they suffered.
To me one of the most important points which was made in this video is that because not many people will be convicted of genocide that many Rwandans will feel that justice was not dispensed and may want to take revenge. This genocide could unfortunately cause another and repeat in a vicious cycle until members of the global community decide that things like this should no longer be aloud to happen and step in to help stop the fighting. In order to end the cycle there need to be more groups like the ICRC in order to prevent genocides around the world and to come to the aid of the injured when they do occur.
Recently one of the journalists who covered the Rwandan genocide, James Nachtwey, decided to do a follow up article 17 years later in Times Magazine's Light Box. This article primarily focuses on the incredible lack of support from neighboring countries. In addition to the shocking 800,000 dead people what is almost worse that these people were massacred with farm implements or with whatever else the Hutu people could find. The use of these farm tools often led to horrible scaring and wounds, as pictured above.
The article does state that public apologies were made but then says," the gesture did not bring back the life of a single Rwandan". Thankfully the ICRC was able to help save over 36,000 lives [1] but with the help of other countries, like the United States, many more certainly would have been saved.
I am glad that James Nachtwey decided to do a follow up article on this genocide 17 years after the fact. In many ways this reminds the world of the atrocities which were committed and continues to hold them accountable for their actions, or more accurately their lack of actions. Though,as was pointed out above and in the article, remembering and apologizing for the genocide doesn't bring back any of the Rwandans who died or erase what happened from the past it lets the Rwandans know that they have not been and will not be forgotten. Perhaps the most disturbing part of the article is that the article states that some of the perpetrators of the genocide managed to make their way into relief camps, many of which were run by the ICRC. These relief camps were the only aspect of the genocide where many members of the international community can say they made a positive difference by supporting these camps with funds and volunteers. Because the perpetrators were indistinguishable from the persecuted Tutsi people, however, other countries who didn't stop the killings during the genocide were actually helping to heal the killers after the fact.
Article & Picture:
"When the World Turned Its Back" last modified 6 April 2011, http://lightbox.time.com/2011/04/06/when-the-world-turned-its-back-james-nachtweys-reflections-on-the-rwandan-genocide/#21
Other Sources:
[1] "Interview: Philippe Gaillard," last modified 1 April 2004, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts /interviews/gaillard.html.
This sad video is about how the world broke its promise to stop genocide after the Holocaust when the world said, "Never again". I wish the global community had kept this promise so that this tragedy might not have occurred. This video also depicts the terrible hardship which occurred during the Rwanda genocide. Clearly these countries maintained no such promise and even pulled out their troops leaving only a small number of United Nations troops along with the ICRC who remained dedicated and refused to let the Rwandans die without attempting to help them in whatever way they could. (Image of ICRC worker shown at 3:51). The facts which accompany this video are possibly as upsetting as the images in the video are. It's difficult to believe that the world could say "Never again" and let this happen and do nothing at all to stop it. What's most upsetting is that, as is pointed out in the video, the United States' and other countries' governments feigned ignorance and denied that a genocide was even occurring and only well after the genocide had ended did the United Nations admit that acts of genocide had, in fact, occurred. Without the ICRC there to save thousands of lives it is almost certain that the death toll would have been much higher and the genocide may have even lasted longer.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), logo at right, was founded in 1863 and has been striving “to ensure protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and strife”. [1] This organization of five members met for the first time in Geneva, Switzerland during February of 1863. Though there weren’t many members at the time, they were able to get several governments to agree on and adopt the first of the Geneva Conventions in 1864, only a year after the organization’s inception. The Geneva Conventions protect people who are no longer participating in a conflict or war, such as people who have become wounded or are prisoners of war. The Red Cross is also famous for providing medical attention and other forms of aid to those in need. This includes and is not limited to, administering immunizations, protecting innocent civilians, and visiting prisoners of war. Since its inception, the ICRC has dramatically expanded and is now present in roughly 80 countries and has around 11,000 staff members. The video above shows some of the things that ICRC volunteers do in Rwanda today. (Note: The video ends after 43 seconds)
Phillippe Gaillard
In addition to providing medical care the ICRC can become involved in the creation of peace treaties, and one of the events leading to the Rwandan genocide involved one such peace treaty. At the beginning of July of 1993 Phillippe Gaillard, portrait at left, who headed the ICRC mission in Rwanda throughout the genocide, was involved in a peace treaty in order to quell some of the fighting, which involved guerrilla warfare and the civil war going on in Rwanda. Phillippe Gaillard said that never read the peace treaty he was proposing because the president of the MRND, a French political party, had told him that, "In Africa, peace agreements are usually toilet papers."[2] The Rwandan genocide which shortly followed the peace treaty clearly proved this statement to be correct. Phillippe Gallard stated that he thought the genocide may have even been a response to the peace treaty that Rwandans felt they had been forced to sign as a result of pressuring from the international community.
Map of Rwanda and a view of neighboring countries
Rwanda is a country with very little land, which is located in central Africa, but is home to more than 11 million people today. [2] The map on the right shows Rwanda, its major cities, and its bordering countries. Tragically, The nation of Rwanda experienced a horrific genocide in 1994 which, though it lasted for only 100 days, killed close to one million people. The cause of Rwanda's genocide probably lies in its colonial history. When Rwanda was a colony of Belgium the Belgian leaders gave the Tutsis, who were a minority in Rwanda, preferential treatment because their appearance was similar to that of a European. This angered the Hutus, who were the "group" in majority. Though it is clear that there were tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi people violence was unusual and anything even resembling a genocide was extremely unlikely to occur. The rule of the Belgians changed this, the Belgians knew that one of the surest ways for them to maintain power was for them to exploit the bad history between the Tutsi and Hutu people so that both of these groups would greatly prefer the rule of the Belgians to the rule of the other group. Many people who were involved in the Rwandan genocide believe that this increased animosity was the one of the biggest, if not the biggest cause of the Rwandan genocide.
Young victims of the Rwandan genocide
On April 6, 1994 the Rwandan genocide, one of the most horrific genocides the world has ever seen, began almost immediately following the Rwandan president's plane being shot down. Sadly as the genocide became worse and worse more and more countries began to turn away from the persecuted Tutsi people of Rwanda merely because the countries would have nothing material to gain by helping them. These countries, with the United States among them, claimed they were not able to get troops into Rwanda and yet they were able to airlift out American civilians beginning on the ninth of April in 1994, just three days after the Rwandan president's plane was shot down. Unfortunately horrific scenes like the one pictured above were not uncommon during the genocide and when leaders of the world visited Rwanda after the genocide had ended it would not have been unusual for them to find dead bodies piled atop one another.
The Rwandan genocide was also one of the fastest moving genocides ever. It has been estimated that one the first day of the genocide alone 8,000 people were killed and at the end of the genocide over 800,000 Tutsi people were killed in as little as 100 days. [3] Even with this incredibly large death toll, Belgium and the United States both completely pulled out all of their soldiers from the United Nations' forces. Even the U.N. tells the head of their peacekeeping force in Rwanda, General Romeo Dallaire, to avoid armed conflict and not intervene. Though many countries and the United Nations was turning away from the Tutsis and denying that a genocide was even occurring the ICRC continued to provide aid to Rwandans who needed it. In addition to providing medical care and protection the Red Cross gave the Tutsis something even more important, hope. One Tutsi woman who was interviewed about her experience during the genocide had this to say:
A young child surrounded by dead victims of the genocide
“I was wearing my Red Cross T-shirt in the hope that these people would spare me. I hoped that they would respect that symbol of protection and humanity known across the world.” [4]
This woman was rescued from certain death at the hands of Hutus two days after she had been captured.
The ICRC was one of the only groups that remained in Rwanda as many other well known and wealthy countries and organizations pretended to be ignorant of the inhumane crimes that were being committed in Rwanda was it was so well covered by the media that the majority of the general public was well aware of the tragic situation in Rwanda. Juan Martinez of the ICRC said this about the situation in Rwanda during the genocide," The gruesome statistics can never reflect the full horror of what this country and its people endured during those 100 days".[5] Many children were left orphaned as a result of the genocide like the one pictured above.
The ICRC worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of all Rwandans and to aid those who were hurt. Philippe Gaillard, leader of the ICRC mission in Rwanda was able to help the ICRC save over 65,000[7] lives while working throughout the Rwandan genocide despite his life being threatened repeatedly. He also worked to help raise awareness of the genocide in hopes that this would make other countries feel a need to help the Rwandans. Perhaps the most important thing that the ICRC was able to do for the persecuted Tutsis, however, was to give them hope.
Rwandan ICRC volunteers
[1] "History of the ICRC,"last modified 11 February 2010, http://www.icrc.org/eng/who-we-are/history/overview-section-history-icrc.htm.
[2] "Interview: Philippe Gaillard," last modified 1 April 2004, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts /interviews/gaillard.html.
[3] "Africa - Rwanda," last modified 25 April, 2011, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html.
[4] "Timeline: Ghosts of Rwanda,"last modified 1 April 2004, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/etc/crontext.html.
[5] "Surviving Rwanda's Genocide," last modified 14 April 2004, http://www.ifrc.org/en/news-and-media/news-stories/africa/rwanda/surviving-rwandas-genocide/.
[6] "Rwanda 1994: a "drop of humanity in an ocean of horror," last modified 4 January 2004, http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/5xfmjg.htm
[7] "Rwandan Genocide: Acts of Rescue," http://www.vhec.org/images/pdfs/rwanda.pdf
