Genocide – Term Paper

Essay on genocide

Can the World Resolve the Problem of Genocide? 

People have a tendency of dismissing genocide, claiming that it occurs very rarely. The 1994 Rwandan genocide is considered by many as the worst and a basis of comparison for the inhuman act. In reality however, Rwanda is just one of numerous countries in which genocide occurred during the 21st century. As a matter of fact, more people were slaughtered in acts of genocide during the previous century than in the two world wars combined. People may never know the effect that genocide has had on the world. Such tremendous loss of lives must be put to an end’ and it the responsibility of humanity to ensure that this happens. This papers look at whether the world is capable of resolving the problem of genocide. 

In 2007, the Montreal conference was held with the aim of pressuring world leaders to take into consideration the mass murders taking place in different places of this world. However, General Romeo Dallaire begged to differ. General Romeo Dallaire from Canada headed a UN peacekeeping force in Africa during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Unfortunately, Gen. Dallaire and his troops were unable to stop the genocide after the UN headquarters in New York betrayed them therefore starving them of resources to conduct their mission. According to Gen. Dallaire, young people have the ability to change how people respond to genocide in the future. The 1948 the genocide convention described genocide as the intentional and collective annihilation of a human group in its entirety based on its ethnic, religious, racial, or national identity. The question posed by this essay’s document-based question is whether the world can resolve the problem of genocide. 

Questions about genocide

Lemkin’s letter to the New York Times notes that the UN should declare the problem of genocide as an international crime to provide for its prevention and punishment. Also, the letter proposes the need to protect the values of civilization through institutions that conform to a progressive international law. According to Lemkin’s letter, the Nuremburg tribunal had to dismiss Nazi crimes due to lack of adequate provisions and the formulation of international law previously. As a result, the United Nations is currently being tasked with the duty of seeing to it that future genocides are prevented.

In 1948, the UN General Assembly approved an international agreement that would ensure the prevention and punishment of genocide crimes. Irina Lagunina finds that the international community took too long to prosecute those responsible for the horrors of the holocaust. However, it took the international community forty years to punish the crimes of the holocaust because they first had to bring peace to the regions affected by the genocide crimes.

The Armenians, Cambodians, and Tutsis are three known victims of genocide in the world. There should be immediate response from the international community to eradicate genocide as a crime against humankind. There is clear evidence from past events on how the world should put an end to genocide, which is to remove it completely. Therefore, the world can resolve the problem of genocide if it utilizes the right tools. Also, the right action should be enough for a change.

Moreover, the failure to respond to gross violation of human rights adequately and promptly by government institutions implies that a country’s ability to resolve genocide problems is not as strong as international institutions would expect. Hence, if such governments cannot spearhead actions against genocide, then the people are also at a disadvantage because they are also fighting amongst themselves. The UN Security Council has embarked on steps to resolve the problem of genocide. For example, the council has formed a permanent tribunal to judge crimes against humanity. The council has also established a military task force to fight war crimes. Finally, the council has brought together various governments to support the fight against violation of human rights.

Is genocide still happening today

There currently exists a set of international human rights agreed upon by countries worldwide. These rights are supposed to be enjoyed by every individual in any country, which supports them. These rights should also help in dealing with the problem of genocide because they show that an individual in a certain country has the same rights as every other individual from any other part of the world. Therefore, by this reasoning, it is not right to kill someone residing in a country because they are not native citizens. 

Nonetheless, even with the existence of resourceful super powers such as the United Nations, European Union, and the United States of America, the world still has no clear understanding of what genocide is. Due to lack of proper understanding of genocide and its aspects, the EU, UN, and USA continue to face problems in dealing with genocide. Dealing with genocide has become difficult for the three groups because even with graphic images of genocide circulating all over the world, they fail to comprehend the magnitude of evil involved. Also, the leaders of these groups are accountable to their citizens. Hence, when the public remains silent on the matter, leaders interpret their silence as indifference. Hence, failure to act tends to be the safest route.

If the country governments as well as the UN can improve their strategies in handling genocide worldwide, we can help eliminate the problem faster and prevent its occurrence in the future instead of having to experience it again and then waiting for decades to solve it.