In the incident of Rwanda back in 1990’s an estimated 500-000-1,000,000 were killed in the

genocidal man slaughter of Tutsi, an ethnical sector, by members of Hutu. While, an estimated
2,000,000 Rwandans, mostly Hutus, were displaced and became refugees. The aftermath caused
greater damage in Rwanda such as the pervasive use of rape as a weapon of war caused a spike
in HIV infection. The destruction of infrastructure and the severe depopulation of the country
crippled the economy, challenging the nascent government to achieve rapid economic growth and
stabilization.

The terrifying events in Rwanda caused some head of States such as US President Bill
Clinton, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan (who was Under-Secretary General for
Peacekeeping at the time of the Rwandan genocide), and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy
Verhofstadt. They hold themselves liable of what happened for their failure to halt the genocide.

What I am trying to establish here is this the simple fact of the matter is that states view
genocide, rightly or wrongly, as special and uniquely detested. Should it be found that the duty to
prevent genocide had attained the status of jus cogens. I believed that the test of this theory lied on
the events of Rwanda where in terms of justice the genocide that took place marked a turning point
in international commitment to including accountability and criminal trials as part of responses to
grave crimes under international law. The creation of the ICTR in 1994, and the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia the year before, paved the way for international justice.

The ICTR provided the scope of Genocide within acts committed with intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group such as (a) Killing members of the
group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;(e) Forcibly transferring
children of the group to another group. Also provided for acts that are punishable.

Thus, the problem of genocide is of universal importance and if no action is given during
difficult times like this it would tantamount to negligence.