(1948), "genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(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."
In Article 3 of the same document, it is stated that acts such as "genocide; conspiracy to commit genocide; direct and public incitement to commit genocide; attempt to commit genocide; and complicity in genocide" should be punishes, yet we see acts nowadays that are not punished, but do fit the description created by the UN.
When discussing and talking about genocides during class, mentioning the ones most people refer to and know about - like the Holocaust - to the ones occurring now that are not receiving the needed attention, - for example the one in Darfur- our teacher asked us where we thought the next great genocide would occur. We began talking to people who surrounded us, each coming up with a different idea or guess of where the next tragedy would take place. When we were done discussing, the teacher asked if any of us thought there would not be another genocide. The class seemed very surprised with that question, because no one had even considered such possibility!
After that lesson, we were asked to write this post, talking about what we would do if there were a genocide occurring, would we take action? Would we only be bystanders?
- The bystander effect is "a social psychological phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer help to a victim", most cases due to the presence of other bystanders, which creates the thought that someone else will help the victim.-
While each person decided what they would do, how they would help, or not, the situation, I started thinking, brainstorming what I could do and in which way it would affect the genocide. That is when I noticed that I am not doing anything, I'm not taking any action, and there are genocides happening now. So if I created a great plan talking about how I would save the children and stop the killings, I would be extremely hypocritical, and anyone could, and should, ask me why I'm not doing that now, right now, when people are dying and populations are suffering. After pondering over that, I could still sit down and create an auspicious plan, in which i am able to save the massacred population, but I decided to reflect.
Why do we not do anything? How can we do something?
One way I see that can decrease genocides, is preventing them. We saw in class the "Pyramid of Hate", which shows the 'steps' taken before a genocide actually taking place. If such steps are interrupted, maybe we would be able to decrease the number of genocides the happen form now on.
The Pyramid of Hate:
Anyhow, in order for this to actually take place, people all around the world would have to end with the "acts of subtle bias", and that, even though it would take a lot of effort, should happen. I do believe that if our society begins to understand how simple acts can lead to greater ones, changes will be made. The UN even provides a "Office of the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide (OSAPG)"
But now, what should be done about current genocides?
What I believe is the right thing to be done is the United Nations recognizing the genocides as actual genocides, which would force them to take action, since they see genocides as acts that have to be punished.
Sites such as Genocide Watch are always updating and keeping their viewers informed about current genocides and facts regarding them. People like these are the ones who give hope to our society, the ones who try to spread awareness of something everyone knows is happening, but ignores it, once again showing, the bystander effect.
Nevertheless, here I am, being hypocritical again. Yes, I am a bystander, I have noticed and I do feel bad about it. Will I continue being a bystander? Yes, probably. Does that mean it is fine for the UN to be a bystander? No, because the United Nations is supposed to be the organization that deals with such conflicts. Nonetheless, I am not trying to decrease my guilt, because I see how one person taking action is significant, but at the same time, how can I, as a teenager, stop genocide? This is where I stopped and changed my train of thought, going back to how to prevent genocide.
Because, even though I see them happening and
I do not take action to try to stop the deaths, I do feel like I have a greater
chance of preventing them. As a class, we have improved throughout the years
when it comes to the pyramid of hate and the ‘steps’ leading to genocide,
because we have always stopped at the “acts of subtle bias”, and anything above
that would have been too much, but I see how people can improve and change, by
seeing how much we were able to.
With that, I thought: in which way can we
spread this idea to the world? Because if a class of teenagers can change and
decrease their prejudice, can’t others?
Maybe a way of spreading this idea is
having 17 boys and girls write about in their academic blogs, it might not be,
but it will not hurt to try.
What if these posts affect people, are shared
by people, read by people; some kind of influence it will make, and that is
what any person that tries to spread a new idea or belief hopes for; they hope
that what they believe in will end up influencing others, maybe to become a
better person, or even only to discuss it with their friends, because either
way, it will count as something.
