Justice for All?

by Michelle . · 2009-06-26 15:00:00 UTC
Topics:

In response to a recent letter by Human Rights Watch calling for the prosecution of war crimes by Rwandan Patriotic Front soldiers, three Rwandan survivors' organizations question the absence of discussion of justice for Western powers that were complicit in the 1994 genocide.

While I disagree with the assertion that HRW treats RPF war crimes as the "moral equivalent of genocide," and the apparent argument that the "circumstances" of the genocide somehow excuse the commission of war crimes by the RPF (as well as many other premises of the letter), the Rwandan organizations raise an interesting question:

Should world leaders who failed to intervene to prevent or stop the killings be brought to task for their complicity?

We have laws, after all, for failure to stop and render aid after car accidents. Should we have laws that penalize failure to stop and end genocide?

(Wouldn't be necessary if we would all be good little samaritans, would it?)

Michelle . has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Britney Spears, Time Travel and the Holocaust - in One Movie?
NEXT STORY:
A letter from Bettina Siegel, "Pink Slime" petition creator

COMMENTS (0)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.