Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
The Rwanda genocide was launched in April 1994 against the country's
Tutsi population and moderate Hutus, by Hutu extremists in the
government and the army. Approximately 800,000 people were
slaughtered in 100 days. The UN and its member states failed Rwanda
in deplorable ways in 1994, ignoring evidence that genocide was
planned; refusing to act once it was under way.
The question is: Did Mr. Annan make his promise and did he do what
he said? The answer is NO. The United Nations made fatal errors again
in its mission to Angola, where civilians faced starvation and massive
human rights abuse as a result of the resurgent war. The U.N.'s
involvements in Angola, and similar missions in countries like the
Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, were disasters
because of the United Nations' ignoring evidence to the conflicts.
Unless Mr. Annan has learned from those many fatal mistakes, the
United Nations still did not prepare to act to prevent acts of gross
violations of human rights in Burma. Even though the 53-nation U.N.
Human Rights Commission unanimously adopted a resolution
expressing grave concern over systematic violations by authorities in
Burma, Mr. Annan as Secretary-General, did not raise to bring actual
penalties toward the Burmese illegitimate regime.
The evidence is that the conflict in Burma has displaced over one
million people. There are currently more than 1,300 political prisoners
in the notorious jails, many thousands of people in the war zones of
Burma, and 4 million citizens have left their own country since 1988.
Even many human rights groups have expressed concern about
arbitrary arrests by military intelligence agents, prolonged
interrogation, and the torture and ill-treatment of detainees.
The U.N and its members must not fail the Burmese people again
when they need protection the most. Mr. Kofi Annan must realize that
your help and expertise cannot be effectively delivered from your
special envoy Mr. Razali Ismail, or Mr. Paul Sergio Pinheiro. You must
visit Burma and you must meet both sides (Military regime and the
NLD which won in 1990 General Election) to re-enter genuine political
dialogue that is aimed at returning the country to democracy and
civilian rule.