The United Nations assistance mission in Rwanda (UNAMIR) was the United Nation’s peacekeeping troop. During the time of the Genocide, the UNAMIR was at the location. (Nations, 2004)However, several conditions led to the failure of the United Nations to prevent the genocide.

Firstly, when the west heard about the government-sanctioned murders from Rwanda, they were occupied with the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. As Yugoslavia was closer to the Europeans than Rwanda was, they felt it was much more beneficial helping to resolve the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Also, the UNAMIR did not have enough resources to prevent the genocide. There were not enough troops to rally against the strong forces of the Rwandans.

Secondly, although there were warnings given out for a possible massacre, nothing much was done to prevent it. United Nations raised awareness in key member states when the massacre started, but the Security Council voted to decrease the size of UNAMIR instead of increasing the size to help fight against the innocent and perhaps prevent more people from being killed. The size of UNAMIR troops was decreased from 2000 to 270. This happened because countries withdrew when there were casualties.

Lastly and perhaps the most important point was because America will not tolerate casualties and will retreat if American / UNOSOM soldiers are killed. (Chowning, 2009) America is not ready to have their troops killed by preventing the genocide in Africa. When Belgium troops were killed in their makeshift refugee camps, Belgium decides to pull out its troops. Not wanting another déjà vu, America too decides to pull out its troops.

In a nutshell, this proves how inefficient the structure of the United Nations is. They rely too much on the troops from different countries and they also rely too much on the opinions of the key members’ states that they deserted the people whom needed help the most – The Tutsis. Every government is only interested in saving its own people and not the Tutsis. United States officials fear the word ‘genocide’ and they refuse to accept the word ‘genocide’ when United Nations brought it up. They fear that it would encourage Council members to act, under the 1948 UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. (Harsch, 2004) Also, through votes, the Security Council decided to withdraw troops. This is unfair as these votes are made up of opinions of people whom think of what’s best for them, but not what’s best for the situation. Also, the United Nations was not fast enough to act when it was warned about the Genocide. Its peace keeping efforts fell through and it did not have enough troops to be sent or act in the situation.

Recommendations that I suggest to prevent another Rwanda Genocide is to recognise the problem early. The conflicts between the 2 ethnic groups have been going on for years. This is an early signal to prevent any wars alike from happening. During the massacre, United Nations was warned of a possible massacre, but did little to stop it from happening. To prevent another massacre from possibly happening, they could have recognised this problem when it was mentioned and tried to resolve it.

Secondly, the United Nations should make faster decisions when a problem this big is happening or has happened. They should be fast enough to stop the genocide from happening when they were warned of it and stop it when it has happened, not by going through layers of meeting and votes and only decide on a resolve once the genocide has happened and lives are lost.

Third, they should have a ready force of troops at all times. The UNAMIR had insufficient troops when the genocide broke out, that was one of the reasons why it failed to prevent it. Other than UNAMIR, contingency troops from countries should be readily available and activated automatically when situations like this occur.

Lastly, they should also ensure that those guilty of murder should be punished by the law. The murderers whom killed thousands of innocent Tutsis should not be left scot-free. They should be dealt with fairly by the law as a form of punishment, so that many will see the degree of solemnity committing genocide is and possibly prevent others from doing it in the future.

Works Cited

Chowning, K. (2009, September 1). Genocide in Rwanda: The International Community Failed to Act. Retrieved May 30, 2010, from www.associatedcontent.com: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/968978/genocide_in_rwanda_the_international_pg2.html?cat=9

Harsch, E. (2004, July). UN seeking to avert a 'new Rwanda'. Retrieved May 30, 2010, from www.un.org: http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol18no2/182genocide.htm

Nations, U. (2004, April 7). Genocide in Rwanda. Retrieved May 30, 2010, from www.un.org: http://www.un.org/events/rwanda/backgrounder.html

news, B. (2008, December 18). Rwanda: How the genocide happened. Retrieved May 30, 2010, from news.bbc.co.uk: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1288230.stm