If you have a Facebook, you may have noticed that most people are converting their profile pictures to have a watermark of the French flag. You may have also noticed this act being questioned. What does this prove? Is the watermark our only way of establishing solidarity? These questions have caused some sort of upset in my mind.
When you experience the loss of a loved one, do you receive sympathy cards? flowers? sentimental gifts? Both situations are on two different ends of the spectrum but showing support is all the same and never turned down. Not everyone can lend their hands physically to help those in countries thousands of miles away. Not everyone can jump the ocean to tangibly show support to terrorist victims. By using the watermark, we are showing our support the best way we know how. What you should be questioning is why only one terrorist attack that happened recently is being played by the media.
It is not the people of Facebook that I am upset with. I am upset with those who have the power, money, and authority to help victims, that are falling short. Governments and policy-holders try to portray every nation as not having enough to give to others. And though sometimes countries focus on foreign affairs more than their own, people are still people. We experience the same emotions and despair. If we started to give support without being asked or waiting for such events to occur, maybe, just maybe, our world could find that act of solidarity people are questioning.
My heart breaks for all victims of Lebanon, France, Japan, Mexico, Iraq, etc. We cannot be leaving these problems for the government to take care of. We cannot leave our trust in the United Nations for without us small people to help delegate and intervene, such establishments would not exist. We are the peacekeepers of the world. It is time to stop knocking one another down and bring each other up through support. Our world should not be turning into a trophic cascade.
I wrote this article about Darfur a few months back. It touches base on the astounding accounts of Darfurian violence. I wanted to share this with you so that you could see the levels of terrorism surrounding our world and not just in the countries I've listed above.
Please do what you can to help one another. We are all we've got.
Darfuri Rebel
Genocide and the Need for Peace
In 1945, an intercontinental
organization intended to execute foreign relations and policies was
established; the United Nations. The duties of the organization is to secure
peace, civil rights, and foreign relationships. Proper precautions and
processes have proven the United Nations to be successful when it came to
reducing international crisis. Despite their civic duty of providing security
and peace, the United Nations has failed exponentially on various international
dilemmas. In 1995, Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica conducted an ethnic
cleansing that resulted in the murder of over seven-thousand boys and men. The
United Nations had stationed their Dutch peacekeepers in Srebrenica, calling it
a 'safe zone.' The Serb forces built their army around the town of Srebrenica
and soon imposed on the civilians, causing mass destruction to their people and
society. Men of the Serb forces obtained the United Nation peacekeeper uniforms
and raped the women and children (Human Rights Watch, pg. 37). Instead of
protecting the men, women, and children of Bosnia, the Dutch peacekeepers
surrendered. This massacre is regarded as the worst in Europe since World War
II—inspiring a cease-fire that ended the three year long genocide (Smith, par.
1). The act of withdrawing peacekeepers and surrendering to crisis is equally
evident in the case of Darfur. What remains are not only the scars of the
genocide, but that a cease-fire and peace agreement has yet to be
reached—displacement, murder, and rape continue today. The duty to protect
civilians has not been properly fulfilled by the United Nations and its United
Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). To succeed, the steps to take
include educating not only civilians; constructing schools, homes, and
orphanages for the peoples of Darfur; and establishing a proficient job economy
that does not marginalize civilians who have limited skills. These processes
will not cease-fire immediately but they will remedy the harmful circumstances
that continue to arise in the Darfur community. Exhausting all resources
necessary to make daily life easier than the day before is what UNAMID needs to
enforce. Surrendering troops and peacekeepers unfortunately provide effortless
admission for the Darfuri rebel movements—Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) and the
Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)--to continue waging war against Arab
militias. (“Genocide in Darfur” par. 1).
President
Omar al-Bashir was a Sudanese General during the beginning of the Darfuri rebel
movements, in 1989. Regional tensions were irritated by the control of Sudan by
Bashir. The tensions induced conflicts between African farmers and nomadic Arab
tribes. SLA and JEM complained that sedentary people were not being protected
by the Sudanese government. The rebel movements were then at war with Arab
militias known as Janjaweed and Sudanese forces. Villages were destroyed,
civilians were displaced, and many were murdered (“Genocide in Darfur” par. 2).
This movement has killed over 400,000 people and displaced over 2.5 million.
The Darfuri people believe that the Sudanese government are in connection with
the Arab militia, and therefore murdering their own civilians; never addressing
claims of connection or human rights crisis. In 2009, President Bashir was
indicted by International Criminal Court (ICC) for managing crimes against
humanity; rape, mass killing, and pillaging against civilians in Darfur. The
Sudanese government has yet to surrender President Bashir, making the claims of
connections with Arab militias even more suspicious than before (“Genocide in
Darfur” par. 5).
The
United Nations established a congregation to provide aid in Darfur; United
Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Peacekeepers were stationed
in Darfuri rescue camps to guide displaced families, provide medical treatment
and food. However, the Sudanese government has severely restricted access for
humanitarian workers, causing the integrity of our perception to be corrupted.
Specifically, the government has restricted the peacekeeping mission of UNAMID
by shutting down the human rights office in Khartoum. Limiting the access to
provide aid to Darfuri people has caused the United Nations to withdraw their
peacekeeping forces. Sudanese government continues to relay the message that
areas of Sudan are stable, contributing to the withdraw of even more
peacekeepers. Once the aid is removed mass brutality arises, however, there are
no external witnesses this time. Another tactic to avoid scrutiny, the Sudanese
government has set up refugee villages for displaced Darfuri to settle. Mass
rape in these villages is evident as the Human Rights Watch has documented the
incidents (Clooney, par. 6). The victims need a suitable structure that cannot
be accessed by the rebels and government; living in makeshift tents outside
does not constitute as protecting victims. The sexual abuse of civilians is not
a military objective but rather a showcase of control and victimizing the
entire Darfuri community. To the United Nations, the mass rape in refugee camps
are evidence that conditions of genocide in Darfur continue. Assuming attackers
retreat (lack ammunition or other resources), it may be easier for peacekeepers
to then have knowledge on the attackers—engage them, find out who they are, and
let them know there is a cost to their actions (Gettleman, par. 14).
Surrendering to the Sudanese government by diminishing our peacekeeping mission
has now left Darfuri peoples to survive on their own without a voice to speak
for them, without a place to sleep, without medical treatment, and without
food. The lack of resources to survive will ultimately create national genocide
regardless of who is good or bad.
The
sole purpose for sending peacekeepers is to protect the victims of national
devastation. The United Nations has disowned that oath by retreating its aid
workers from Darfur. In addition to protection, missions to Darfur could
consist of building schools and homes for children of neighboring tribes.
Placing these children in a fostering community will cause a sense of unity and
nationalism. They will have access to education as they are future Sudanese
leaders who may then support peace without violence, and create democracy. This
process will also develop skills that are needed to obtain jobs and to help the
economy grow so that jobs do flourish. Stable structures and monuments will
alleviate the saga of mass raping, and will provide suitable living conditions
for victims exposed excessively to African weather. Living conditions that
provide water, food, shade, clothing, and baths, will eventually diminish the
high rates of deaths by illnesses contracted from outside. Tents and shags will
never protect these victims from the wrath of mother nature. International
dilemmas cause people to desire intercultural cooperation. People in need rely
on help from anywhere and anyone. The United Nations has the skills, money, and
resources to provide aid to many countries in need, especially Sudan.
Abandoning the responsibilities that the United Nations is upheld to, shows
globally that they may not be trustworthy. Victims are not looking for
immediate relief as they are intelligent enough to know it is a process. What
they are looking for are remedies to live another day without fear and
violence. The United Nations can make that dream a reality if they do not
abandon their civic duty because of apprehensions and fear. Are the attackers
worse, or cowards who abandoned their mission?
Resources
Smith, R. Jeffrey. "Srebrenica Massacre." Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 12 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1697253/Srebrenica-massacre>.
"The Fall of Srebrenica." HRW. Human Rights Watch, 1 Oct. 1995. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/bosnia1095web.pdf>.
"United Human Rights Council." United Human Rights Council. Web. 14
Mar. 2015. <http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide-in-sudan.htm>.
Gettleman, Jeffrey.
"Peacekeepers Without a Peace to Keep." The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Oct. 2007. Web. 14 Mar.
2015.
<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/weekinreview/14gettleman.html?_r=0>.
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