Role of The International Community in The Rwandan Genocide - Canada

Canada

During the period of about a hundred days, approximately 800,000 human beings were perished in the Rwandan genocide. Canada one of many international communities failed to prevent this atrocity, and stood by when thousands were dying in one of history’s most gruesome genocides. Canadian policy makers have taken many lessons learned away from the Rwandan genocide in hopes to view them as an assist to the Darfur genocide. Canadians view the crime of the violent genocide as crimes against humanity. In July of 1993 General Romeo Dallaire was provided with little information on the background of the conflict in Rwanda. When requested for current intelligence he was denied and given little access to the information. Romeo went into the mission of Rwanda as what they call “blind man”. Due to the lack of information Canada was known the mission was skilled poorly and with non-experienced experts and their inputs into the economic, political and human rights operational planning. This came to a result of military operations that had ignored requirements for long term addresses to the cause of the Rwandan conflict. It enabled them to bring the nation to a peace transition with a viable economy. The mission was restricted to defensive rules of engagement and with little cost and time. Force was prohibited to use unless for self-defence. After the plane shooting Dallaire called for reinforcement and was denied. By April 10 it was clear the non-battle pole strategy failed to prevent the genocide and Belgium initially called for reinforcement and was supported by the United States, Great Britain, Russian and many more for a withdrawal of the UNAMIR and abandonment of the Rwandan people the their fates. Their only attempt at an intervention deployed two thousand marines and paratroopers, to evacuate foreign nationals in Rwanda; however it was deployed for the wrong purpose. UNAMIR eventually took under protection 40,000 Rwandans despite their strict mandate. Many members strained to survive but without the battle pole and capability the genocide could not be crushed. The UNAMIR was slow to deploy and when arrived they did not suppress the genocide but counted the bodies and assisted survivors. No attempts were made to long term rebuilding of Rwanda. This was a clear example of a non-battle pole. Since the past genocide in Rwanda, Canada and international councils have made up the International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime on Genocide. This came into action 12 January 1951. The convention’s impact is to prevent, suppress and punish genocide. It defines acts of genocide inclusively as: 1. committing genocide; 2. conspiracy to commit genocide; 3. direct and public incitement to commit genocide; 4. attempting to commit genocide; and 5. complicity in genocide.   The convention is to confirm that genocides whether committed in peace or war are still a crime under the international law. The convention states acts intended to destroy in whole or parts of national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, such as: 1. killing members of the group; 2. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; 3. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; 4. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and/or 5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group”. Canada’s theme is to show they have the responsibility to protect their own citizens from avoidable catastrophic events and if they are unwilling or unable to do that, the responsibility must be adopted by the community of states. Canadians, traditional allies and the international community did not use the battle pole. They confined a response to Rwanda to a non-battle strategy which represented by the United Nations was a mistake and bad approach. Canada’s new role under genocidal prevention is to take action under the United Nations Charter as they consider appropriate preventions and suppress the violent acts of genocide. With the use of bi-polar strategy, military defense prevention and suppression Canadian policy makers can respond it may be the only practical way of stopping genocides.