1994 Rwanda Genocide Essay

In 1994, 800,000 Rwandan people were killed in just 100 days. This makes the Rwandan genocide one of the worst genocides in history. The Rwandan people, which consist of the Twa, the Tutsi and the Hutu, all speak the same language and had been living together with only minor conflict between the groups until 1959 (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). In 1959, tensions flared when the Hutu people attacked the Tutsi in retaliation for the Tutsi supposedly killing a Hutu leader (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). Over the next thirty-five years, the Hutu abolished the Tutsi monarchy and rose to power (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). The genocide started when a plane carrying Habyarimana president was shot down by Hutu extremists on April 6, 1994 (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). This act of violence was followed Hutu militia groups killing mass quantities of Tutsi people, and radio broadcasters encouraging Hutus to kill their Tutsi neighbors (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). Ten Belgian soldiers and the Rwandan prime minister were killed by Hutu extremists trying to eradicate all Tutsi politicians (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). Although some Tutsi political
The ICTR, also known as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, could only impose imprisonment, not capital punishments (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). According to Encyclopedia Britannica, ”. . . the UN responded to charges of genocide in Rwanda by creating the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda . . . ”. Unlike the ICTR, the National Courts charged lower-level genocide suspects with capital punishments. Gacaca Courts accused people of minor crimes and were held locally in Rwanda. By 2010, they had held over 1.5 million cases (“Rwanda genocide of 1994”). Overall, the three different types of court systems had a variety of outcomes for the perpetrators (“Rwanda genocide of