Rwandan Genocide and the Failure of Humanitarian Law
Although it has been debated, and some countries claim they were unaware of the severity of the situation in Rwanda at the time, this is false, and more could’ve been by the international community. International humanitarian law did not declare genocide until 1998, after it was already much too late. During the genocide the UN soldiers had little power to step in. They were told that their job was simply to monitor and to not use any force. When the Hutus killed Belgian soldiers they began to evacuate their soldiers and civilians in Rwanda. Nothing was done for the people of Rwanda. Rather than intervene, the U.S. removed their civilians and said that they didn’t want to intrude in matters in Rwanda. They knew full well what was happening and chose to do nothing. The tragic loss of lives could have been prevented if the international community had stepped in.
Human Rights in Nepal
Humanitarian law are the laws that seek to limit the effects of armed conflict. These rules protect civilians, and their property, and also places restrictions on certain types of modern warfare. Laws in the region of Nepal around rule of war must become stricter after the Nepalese Civil War of 1996-2006. This conflict was between the Nepalese government and the Communist Party of Nepal which was an insurgent group. This civil war had 17,000 deaths, many of whom were civilians. There were many war crimes including summary executions, massacres, kidnappings, mass rapes, and more. There has been little on the part of the Nepalese government to solve the problems after the war. Torture didn’t become illegal in Nepal until 2018, and even now it is a common practice in police custody. The Communist Party perpetrators experienced little punishment after the war, and the government has been very lenient. The Constitution of Nepal has many parts, structuring Nepal into a federal republic, and has 31 rights guaranteed in it. These rights include things such as freedom of religion, freedom of privacy, right of victims of crime and more. However these rights in Nepal aren’t as strict as western rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as they are not always followed. 
Asian View
Asian view is when Asian countries interpret human rights differently because they feel they are more unique than western countries and have another set of values. They believe they are less individualistic and therefore put the rights of the community over the individual. Nepal isn’t as strict on their citizens human rights, which is probably more of an issue of poor government and not necessarily views on Asian culture. They just don’t place as much emphasis on them, which ends up hurting their citizens.
Works Cited
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Assistance_Mission_for_Rwanda
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/what_is_ihl.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_Civil_War
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/nepal
