The lessons of Rwanda

Search

Search

Categories

Categories

Most Popular

Social Share

by Irwin Cotler
April 8, 2014

As we commemorate the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, where approximately one million Rwandans – mostly ethnic Tutsis – were murdered in less than 100 days – we must ask ourselves: What have we learned?

In the aftermath of the 65th anniversary of the Genocide Convention – sometimes spoken of as the “Never Again” convention – but which has been violated again and again – we must ask ourselves: What must we do?

The horror of the events in Rwanda – and other genocides of the twentieth century, such as the Holocaust and killing fields of Pol Pot’s Cambodia – and the role of the international community as bystander – gave rise to the Responsibility to Protect principle (R2P), regarded as one of the most important international normative doctrines since the Genocide Convention itself. The R2P doctrine – unanimously adopted at the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document by the largest ever gathering of heads of state and government – mandates international action to “protect a state’s population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.”

To continue click on the link below:

http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-lessons-of-rwanda/