What surprised you in reading the chapter on genocide that you did not know before?
As Laura explained, I felt surprised that there is not much being done to prevent any possible incidents of genocide in the future. With all the killings that went on in countries like Libya, Rwanda, among others, much has not been put in place to prevent possible future cases. Though there are cases presented at the ICC to trial those held accountable for the atrocities, there is no progress whatsoever on what measures to take to prevent it. Though there were debates on how to intervene in such cases to apply more security measures, countries like China and Russia expressed that it would be inappropriate to be engaged in such interventions. They claimed that it would be an act that would compromise their position as a country. It, therefore, surprised me that to some countries, there was no point in engaging in a move meant to prevent genocide, simply because they are only concerned with their national individual national affairs.
For the case of Rwanda, for example, the world seemed not to act to prevent genocide since it was not at all considered as war, probably like the great world wars. It was merely perceived as a disagreement between two groups, the Hutus and the Tutsi. It was also not possible to prevent it because the peacekeepers did not have sufficient arms. If the security instruments would have taken action to intervene in the disagreement in its initial stage, it could have possibly been prevented. Overall, it is very disappointing that even with the recurrent cases of genocide world over, there are parties appointed at the relevant positions, yet there is nothing they can do rather than watch as events unfold. They do not want to engage in such controversy for their interests. There have never been enough interventions to settle the issue of genocide regarding cautioning against more cases like those in the future.