Human Rights and International Governance

This last weekend Shake Hands with the Devil, the movie based on General Romeo Dallaire’s best-selling memoirs, opened its commercial run. It is, to say the least, a powerful film. If you haven’t already had a chance to see it, I would encourage you to do so. For those who are unfamiliar with Dallaire’s story, he was in charge of the UN mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. He courageously tried to stop the killings, but for a whole host of reasons, his political superiors at the UN in New York blocked him from doing so. The result: 800,000 Hutus and moderate Tutsies were massacred. What’s more tragic is that these deaths could all have been prevented had the world heeded Dallaire’s warnings.
      The message of the movie, like the memoirs, is “never again.” Sadly, we have heard these words before; sadder still is that we will likely hear them again. As we speak, mass atrocities are taking place in Darfur, Sudan. Since 2004, hundreds of thousands have been killed and millions more displaced. Despite continued diplomatic efforts, attempts at bringing about an end to this crisis have, to date, produced few meaningful results.
      In my August 10th posting (see “ Choosing between Afghanistan and Darfur”), I argued that it was time for Canadians to have a national debate about the role of our military. I suggested that Canadians may have to make a difficult choice between “a military that is designed to perform dangerous combat operations” such as those currently being performed in Afghanistan, and one that is “geared more towards ending humanitarian crises” such as the one that occurred in Rwanda or the one that is currently taking place in Darfur. I still believe that such a debate is necessary. Chances are there will be a federal election in the next few months. An election would present the obvious opportunity to hold such a discussion.
     But election or no election, go and see the movie. At the very least, it is an important reminder of not only the costs of inaction, but just hollow the words “never again” really have become.

The opinions expressed are the personal views of the author only, and do not represent the views of any organization or institution with which he is affiliated.