One of the most acknowledged movies about the genocide is a movie titled “Sometimes in April”. The movie portrays the situation Tutsi or moderate Hutus had in 1994. The main character was a commander in the army, a Hutu, who married a Tutsi woman and had two children. His brother was a broadcaster in one of the hate radios at that time, where in some scenes in the movie, was trialed in the International Crime Tribunal in Russia. They tried to stay quiet but at the end they were separated when the man decided to stay in their house while his wife and children try to run away out of the country (helped by the main character’s brother). Sadly, they did not succeed and was captured by the Interahamwe in one of the roadblocks.
This movie showed many human rights abuses that had been done by the Rwandan government as well as fellow civilians towards Tutsi. Approximately 800 thousand Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed in only 100 days. The government carried the plan under the cover of civil war. It was called the “final solution”. What had been done was not only murder, but also torture and rape. Men, women, and children, were killed by their neighbors and friends.
The movie also showed how the hate radios broadcasted propaganda that compared Tutsi as cockroaches and how they should be exterminated. Interahamwe, who are actually unofficial militia group, had the biggest role in the killings. No place was safe, even churches. One of the most terrifying scene in the movie was in a church. People were taking refugee in the church but then the militia came and with their death list took the people that are in the list and killed them (one of them was in fact the main character’s wife).
From this movie, we could see that there are many human rights that were violated in Rwanda at that time. Those are:
1. Don’t Discriminate
The hate radios broadcasted propaganda that compares Tutsis to cockroaches. That means that they regarded the Tutsi as something that is lower than a human, even considered them as vermin. They are discriminating them publicly, encouraging other Hutus to consider them as vermin.
Further reading on the hate radios in Rwanda:
http://pas.sagepub.com/content/35/4/609.abstract
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/374375.stm
2. The right to Life
What the interahamwe did by killing all those Tutsi was basically taking away their right to life based only on their “identity”. This planned extermination took away the right to life of 800000 people. Not only that, the right of life means we all should live in freedom and safety, but the Tutsi at that time had neither.
3. No torture
The crimes that happened in Rwanda was not only murder, but also torture. It was described in the movie that the Interahamwe were killing using machete to not waste bullets. Killing with machete would not result instant death, making the victim feel incredible suffering and torture. Not only that, many women were tortured before being rape during the genocide.
Further reading in rapes that happened in Rwanda:
http://www.gendercide.org/case_rwanda.html
4. You have rights no matter where you go
This particular right means that wherever you are, in any country, you should be safe and have your human rights. What is different for the situation in Rwanda is that it happened in their own home, their own country. Their own friends did not recognize their right, their humanity.
4. Your human rights are protected by law
Governments are supposed to make laws that would protect all their citizens, and yet in Rwanda the government made laws that essentially erase all of their Tutsi citizen’s rights. The Hutu 10 commandments that was distributed at that time stated that all Tutsi and all moderate Hutus to be exterminated, proving government involvement as well as how planned the genocide was before 1994.
Further reading in the Hutu 10 commandments:
http://www.trumanwebdesign.com/~catalina/commandments.htm
6. The right to privacy
The interahamwe and militia came in to Tutsi houses forcefully without regarding their privacy, killed all the family members or kidnap the woman to be raped.
7. Marriage and family
Based on the Hutu 10 Commandments, Hutus are not allowed to marry a Tutsi or they would be considered a traitor. Marriage is a right that all adults have, and there should be no restriction on what race your partner should be. The genocide also affected the children of Rwanda, lots of kids were left as orphans due to their parents killed by Interahamwe.
Further reading in orphans of the genocide:
http://www.worldpress.org/Africa/355.cfm
8. Food and shelter for all
At the time of the genocide, people had to hide in places that normally would be considered disgusting or dangerous. In the movie, the main female character had to hide in the swamp with her two students so that they wouldn’t be caught by the Interahamwe (not to mention that they were in really bad condition at that time in the movie).
Another point that is very crucially depicted in the movie was how the outside world was disinterested or oblivious (except for officials) of the genocide in Rwanda. Officials in the United Nations, France, Belgium, and the Untied States pretended that there was no such genocide happening. They even refrain from using the g-word (genocide), fearing that it would cause demands for intervention.
Based on those facts, they have forgotten about one important human right: responsibility. The outside world had the responsibility to help the victims, to stop the human rights abuses that happened in Rwanda. If only the world had helped faster, thousands could’ve been saved. In the movie, it was pictured how other nation’s officials were considering more about how much money they have to give to help than the lives of Rwandans that needed their help urgently.
Further reading in international disinterest in Rwanda:
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