Marianne Hatley ~ International humanitarian laws are laws that were created to protect people from wars or armed conflict. They essentially protect unarmed and innocent civilians. However, this law failed. If we take a look at the country of Rwanda, they especially needed this law. The conflict started between the two major ethnic groups which were the Hutus and the Tutsis. Both ethnic groups contributed to ethnocentrism and fascism by thinking their ethnic group was superior to the other group. Many other events and conflicts would occur that would increase tensions between the two groups. However, the tensions between the Hutus and the Tutis would reach their highest peak during the assassination of the Hutu president, Juvénal Habyarimana, and other Hutu leaders. The president and other Hutu leaders were assassinated when the plane that they were abroad on was shot down. It is still unclear who exactly shot down this plane but obviously, the Hutus accused the Tutsis. However, there is some speculation that the Hutus shot down this plane as an excuse to commit genocide. The speculation that the Tutsis were behind the Hutu president’s assassination lead to the immediate ethnic cleansing of Tutsis people. Very few western countries stuck to the humanitarian law and did little to nothing to help innocent civilians caught up in the war or attempt to end the genocide.
The issues that happened in Rwanda are also happening in the country of South Sudan. The South Sudanese civil war increased tensions between the Dinka and non-Dinka tribes. This resulted in what is basically recognized as a genocide of the non-Dinka people. There is a big problem in the international community. They don’t seem to really recognize this conflict as a genocide and have done virtually nothing to alleviate the issue. Although these countries are committing war crimes and human rights violations, the international community has turned a blind eye. Another example would be how the Uyghur Muslims in China are being forced into concentration camps and ethnically cleansed. This genocide hasn’t really gotten the media attention like the Ukrainian and Russian war but this genocide has been ongoing for a couple of years now. Again, neither the international community nor the United Nations has done much to help or even recognize this as a genocide.