Is Intervention a Responsibility?

In recent years, especially with the conflict and genocide that occured in Rwanda in the 90's, and the ongoing genocide in Darfur, there is the constant question of: should the U.S. get involved? Is intervention a responsibility or a right? Should it even be considered?

This issue has two polarized views with many people falling somewhere in the middle. The humanitarian and human rights activist feel that it is the responsibility of the U.S. to defend the rights of the individual, no matter where in the world atrocities are occurring. However, many conservatives view that the U.S. should only use military force in order to protect its own interests.

We have no interests in Rwanda. The international community left Rwanda to its civil war and to the genocide that was being committed. China does have interests in Darfur and that is some of what is blocking intervention there. But, for the most part, support for humanitarian intervention has decreased since the incident in Somalia when U.S. soldiers were killed and dragged through the streets. Also, the U.S. military is wrapped up in Iraq and the war on terror.

Despite the ongoing war in Iraq, there is still the question of whether it is our responsibility to become involved in Darfur. According to U.N. law we would have to get involved if a genocide is occurring. The international community, U.S. included, has said "never again" to genocide, after the Holocaust, after Rwanda, yet there is not much being done to put an end to the genocide in Darfur. In the past, intervention has often been too little, too late, or just purely ineffective. Not only do the cases of Rwanda and Darfur come to mind, but so does the failure of the U.N. to prevent the massacres that occured in Serbrinica.

If the U.S. does not have any interests in Rwanda, then why should it be involved? Countries have and are becoming much more globally intertwined and rely on each other to support their own. The duhumanization that occurs in genocide is something that none of us can afford any longer. The equality and right to be free of all human beings cannot be support by laws that have loopholes and declarations that it will no happen again.

Works Cited

Evans, Gareth. "Banishing the Rwanda Nightmare: The Responsibility to Protect." Ghosts of Rwanda. 31 Mar. 2004. Frontline. 28 Nov. 2008 .

"Ghosts of Rwanda." Frontline. PBS. 10 May 2005.