Eyewitness to a genocide : the United Nations and Rwanda / Michael Barnett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barnett, Michael N., 1960-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United Nations--Rwanda.

United Nations.

Genocide--Rwanda.

Genocide.

Rwanda--History--Civil War, 1994--Atrocities.

Rwanda.

Rwanda--Ethnic relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (232 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Ithaca ; London : Cornell University Press, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Why was the UN a bystander during the Rwandan genocide? Do its sins of omission leave it morally responsible for the hundreds of thousands of dead? Michael Barnett, who worked at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations from 1993 to 1994, covered Rwanda for much of the genocide. Based on his first-hand experiences, archival work, and interviews with many key participants, he reconstructs the history of the UN's involvement in Rwanda. In the weeks leading up to the genocide, the author documents, the UN was increasingly aware or had good reason to suspect that Rwanda was a site of crimes against humanity. Yet it failed to act. In Eyewitness to a Genocide, Barnett argues that its indifference was driven not by incompetence or cynicism but rather by reasoned choices cradled by moral considerations.Employing a novel approach to ethics in practice and in relationship to international organizations, Barnett offers an unsettling possibility: the UN culture recast the ethical commitments of well-intentioned individuals, arresting any duty to aid at the outset of the genocide. Barnett argues that the UN bears some moral responsibility for the genocide. Particularly disturbing is his observation that not only did the UN violate its moral responsibilities, but also that many in New York believed that they were "doing the right thing" as they did so. Barnett addresses the ways in which the Rwandan genocide raises a warning about this age of humanitarianism and concludes by asking whether it is possible to build moral institutions.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction. Depraved Indifference?

1. It Was a Very Good Year

2. Rwanda Through Rose-Colored Glasses

3. "If This Is An Easy Operation . . . "

4. The Fog of Genocide

5. Diplomatic Games

6. The Hunt for Moral Responsibility

Afterword

Brief Chronology of Rwandan Conflict

Selected Chronology of United Nations' Security Agenda

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource.

ISBN:

9781501702433

1501702432

9780801465123

0801465125

9781322502991

1322502994

9780801465185

0801465184

OCLC:

797829082