Rwanda and Darfur: The Media and the Security Council
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Author | Linda Melvern |
| DOI | 10.1177/0047117806060931 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
International Relations Copyright © 2006 SAGE Publications
(London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi), Vol 20(1): 93–104
[DOI: 10.1177/0047117806060931]
Rwanda and Darfur: The Media and the Security Council
Linda Melvern, University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Abstract
The United Nations Security Council is central to the application of the 1948 Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This article examines the
role of the Council in the circumstances of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and questions
the secrecy of its decision making. It outlines the similarities between response to
genocide in Rwanda and the mass human rights abuses in Darfur, Sudan. It questions the
failure of the western press to provide adequate and timely information about both these
tragedies.
Keywords: African Union, Darfur, humanitarian intervention, international justice, peace
and security, peaceful settlement of disputes, peacekeeping, Rwanda, United Nations
The 1948 Genocide Convention
The obligation of states towards genocide prevention is outlined in the 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide – the
world’s first truly universal, comprehensive and codified protection of human
rights. The convention preceded the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by 24
hours and while the declaration is an affirmation of human rights, the Genocide
Convention is a treaty, providing for the judgement and punishment of trans-
gressors. In the Genocide Convention was enshrined the ‘never again’ promise, the
world’s response to the Nazi Holocaust in Europe and revulsion to the unspeakable
truth of the systematic policy to exterminate the Jews. The convention stood for a
fundamental and important principle; that whatever evil may befall any group,
nation or people, it was a matter of concern not just for that group but for the entire
human family. Raphael Lemkin, a Polish lawyer, the man who coined the word
genocide, believed that the crime implied the existence of a coordinated plan of
action, a conspiracy to be put into effect against people chosen as victims, purely,
simply and exclusively because they were members of the target group.
In his landmark book, Axis Rule in Central Europe, published in 1944, Lemkin
explained that genocide is not a sudden and abominable aberration. It is a deliberate
attempt to reconstruct the world. The instigators and initiators of genocide are cool
minded theorists first, and barbarians only second. A key element in genocide is the
organization of effective propaganda to spread a racist ideology that defines the
victim outside human existence – vermin and subhuman. A further requirement is
a dependence on military security and a certainty that outside interference will be
at a minimum.
And so exactly it was in Rwanda in 1994.
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