The failure of humanity

I saw Romeo Dallaire speak at the university today. Well, I didn't actually see him, as there was such an overwhelming amount of people that the university had to open classrooms so the over-flow could watch the presentation live (It was being broadcast over the internet and pod-cast). His lecture was titled From Rwanda to Darfur: The Failure of Humanity, and his goal was to address human rights reform.

He is possibly the best speaker I have ever had the priviledge of seeing, and I was totally engrossed and inspired. But I am also devistated by how much the people of Rwanda suffered, and how much the developed world, who swore "Never Again" after WW2, failed:

• 800, 000 people were slaughtered in 100 days
• "As the death toll mounted, General Dallaire submitted a detailed plan for a Rapid Reaction Force. He needed 5,000 soldiers to dismantle the killing machine of the genocidaire and to stop the Hutu power movement. The UN Security Council rejected the plan. The United States even refused to acknowledge the genocide to avoid any legal obligations to help. " (CBC)

• When Dallaire was finally granted soldiers to help in the war, he told officials he needed them within 12 days. They arrived 2 months later.
• The wars in Yugoslavia and Kosovo were happening around the same time. Thousands of UN soldiers were pouring in to help. Why? What made Africa different?
• All humans are the same. All humans are responcible for humanity and human rights
• 80% of the world lives in inhumane conditions.
• 2.5 MILLION people were refugeed after the genocide

  

• More news coverage was given to Tonya Harding's knee-cap attack on Nancy Kerrigan and the OJ drama then on the thousands of people dying everyday in Rwanda.
• Child soldiers were fighting this war. Pregnant 10 and 11 year old girls were used as human shields. Many UN soldiers suffer horrible PTS today re-living the days when they were forced to kill these children b/c they were being attacked.
• There are still child soldiers today.

It's important for us all to remember these failures, in order to never let them happen again. It is only after everyone in this world is truely viewed as equal that peace can ever happen. So, whether it's the homeless person on the street, the kid squeegying on the corner, or the children in the refugee camps on the news, they are all like you. And YOU can change the world.