Genocide

Genocide is a film about the horrors of the Holocaust. The Holocaust had an extremely large impact on the implementation of global human rights, and triggered the creation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Universal Declaration lays the foundation for improving the condition of human rights, and guarantees basic freedoms. Before this, human rights were most likely an issue, but were never truly brought to the world’s attention.

The Holocaust also resulted in the Nuremberg Trials, where numerous Nazi officials were tried for war crimes. Sadly enough, prior to the Holocaust, human rights had not been a main focus in the political arena. In fact, the Nuremberg Trial was considered to be the first international war crimes trial. This fact seems rather surprising, because human rights violations have most likely been present far before the Holocaust. The trials were a chance to indicate the level of inhumanity that occurred throughout World War II, and twenty-one defendants were accused of committing crimes against humanity. Before this, crimes involving genocide had not yet been defined or accounted for, so this type of offense was different. Although the trials were a chance to seek justice, it is shocking that they were one of the first of their kind. It is interesting that no type of “ICC” had existed during this time. It seems surprising that the ICC was created so recently, in 2006, only five years ago. The fact that nothing of this kind had existed during the time of the Holocaust, still seems irrational, considering the countless individual’s who broke innumerable ethical codes.

The atrocities of the Holocaust paved the way towards some improvements on the human rights front. Yet, it is also shocking that these improvements did not come sooner, perhaps in an effort to avoid the event all together. Even before the Holocaust, was the Armenian genocide, an event that took the lives of over one million Armenians living in Turkey. Although this took place years before World War II, it seems as if it was unaccounted for. It leads me to question where human rights activists were at the time and why larger improvements were not enforced.

After the Holocaust, one could only hope for the end of genocide. But it appears as if genocide is still of concern. More recently, in 1994 was the Rwandan genocide. 800,000 Rwandans were killed, most of them Tutsis. Although the UN tried to implement peacekeepers, they admit that they failed at preventing the deaths of thousands of Rwandans. The UN has come a long way since the Holocaust, but it is upsetting that genocide still seems far from prevention. The creation of the UN Declaration, is perhaps not enough to stop the violence that has continued throughout the decades. Genocide is definitely something that should be at the forefront of UN concern.