First International Day for Genocide Victims
From Diplomat Artist Buzz & Global Citizen
Genocide – Once More, Never Again?
Archives for posts with tag: Rwanda
By, Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey via Huffington Post
Stripped of its previously presumed preventive rationale, ritualism, moralizing & mythology, the death penalty stands out as torture (or, employing terminology applied by a significant segment of US Courts, as “cruel & unusual punishment.”) –MORE–
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ambassador-muhamed-sacirbey/prosecuting-death-penalty_b_8351648.html
By, Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey via “Huffington Post”
The best apology is to look frankly into the eyes of Srebrenica survivors and apologize but also offer all of BiH the welcome to the Euro-Atlantic family, for real.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ambassador-muhamed-sacirbey/will-bill-clinton-apologize-in-srebrenica_b_7772064.html
By, Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey via Huffington Post
When I was representing BiH at the UN, diplomats parroting cliches & media too frequently fell into the trap of repeating tales of “age old hatreds” while centuries of coexistence & the progress of the whole of society through diversity were ignored.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ambassador-muhamed-sacirbey/burundi-politics-of-ego-and-not-ethnicity_b_7428356.html
Diplomat Artist Buzz: As one American born a slave & reaching to be one of the US’s great educators & scientists, George Washington Carver, stated: “Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, & hate within will eventually destroy the hater.”
http://diplomatartist.com/hate-speech-or-free-speech-on-migrants-in-uk-press/
UN Tribunals Crucial for Delivering Justice for Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, Security Council Told
Judge Theodor Meron, President of ICTY & the MICT, noted international courts on their own cannot resolve long-running historical conflicts, must be part of a “panoply of transitional justice measures,” including broader societal efforts, spearheaded by community leaders, focused on history, memory, responsibility, & respect for the rule of law.
UNSG Ban Ki-moon: “The United Nations was founded to prevent any such horror from happening again. Yet tragedies from Cambodia to Rwanda to Srebrenica show that the poison of genocide still flows.”
Dr. Jane Goodall: “The forests of DRC are of supreme importance in fight to slow down climate change & protect rich diversity of flora/fauna. Eastern DRC provides crucial habitat for chimpanzees & gorillas, both endangered.”
“International pressure on Rwanda seems to have made a difference,” said Ida Sawyer, senior researcher with Human Rights Watch. “They will hopefully think twice before backing yet another abusive rebellion.”
For 20 children today all from the same elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, there is no future. For their parents and loved ones, there are only memories of what might have been. I was gripped by the news reports with a sense of horror and immense sadness of today’s tragedy. I mixed tears with President Obama when I heard his profound emotional address. Our Commander in Chief, with two young daughters of his own, is first and foremost a human being, loving father, and husband. At times such as these, there are no politics or “us versus them.” The President pleaded, “Our hearts are broken as a country. We have seen this too many times.”
As of this writing, we still do not know all of the facts and what compelled a young man to go on a rampage on the most vulnerable. Schools are supposed to be a safe haven, and education and learning a human right. The experience today of the other classmates has snatched their innocence. Most were kindergarteners, a time when futures are molded and lives shaped.
Across the globe today, in China’s Henan Province, two dozen children also were attacked outside a primary elementary school by a knife-wielding villager. These two, separate incidents a world apart, appear to be the case of individuals gone mad. But, where is society and the rule of law to protect our most vulnerable? At the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, one heroic teacher stands out. She was able to shelter several special-needs children in a separate bathroom apart from her classroom. What must these young, extremely “special” children have felt hearing the gunshots so close? Was it the same fear that terrorized Rwanda’s children who also thought they had found shelter in a school?
Today, these and all children are OUR CHILDREN. To all those families that lost their loved ones today, including the adults killed in Connecticut, we will remember you in our prayers, hopes, and dreams for a better future. You will not be forgotten.
By, Susan Sacirbey
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PHOTO School Within a School at Logan Annex
Credit: schoolwithinschool.org
