Rwanda and Genocide in the Twentieth CenturyWhy was the world so slow to react to the genocide in Rwanda? This book argues that the delay in providing humanitarian aid was a refusal on the part of the international community to recognise the singularity of the exceptional crime of genocide. The problem is in the definition of the term: genocide is now too easily applied to the tragedies of mass killings and has been reduced to little more than a media cliche. The author places the meaning of genocide under harsh scrutiny, examining its specificity, arguing that genocide must be reinstated as the most infamous of all crimes and the term severely limited to situations where it is clearly applicable under the terms of the UN Convention on Genocide. |
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African Alain Destexhe Armenians Auschwitz Axis Rule Belgian Belgium Biafra Bosnia Burundi camps civil colonisers commit genocide conflict Convention Crime of Genocide crimes against humanity crimes committed criminal crisis death described ethnic groups extermination famine force France French genocide German Goma guilt Hamites human rights hundreds of thousands Hutu Hutu and Tutsi identity cards ideology individual international community intervention Jean-Pierre Chrétien Jews Juvénal Habyarimana Khmer Rouge Kigali killed large number majority massacres Médecins Sans Frontières militias million murder Nazis never Nuremberg Operation Turquoise organisations Ottoman Paris perpetrators political population President Habyarimana problem Punishment racial racist Radio Mille Collines refugees regard regime responsible result Rule in Occupied Rwanda Rwandan Armed Forces Rwandan Patriotic Front Second World Security Council Resolution security zone situation social soldiers Somalia Stalin targeted territory tragedy trial tribunal trivialising troops Tutsi twentieth century UNAMIR victims word genocide Zaire