Which, if any, of the four atrocity crimes that you read about Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan, would you define as genocide? Explain your answer by including examples from the atrocity crimes that you read about and by referencing the definition.
Genocide is defined by the United Nations as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
Based on the atrocity crimes that I read about in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan, I would define the events in Rwanda as genocide. The genocide in Rwanda was characterized by the systematic killing and targeting of the Tutsi ethnic group by the Hutu majority. The Hutu-led government orchestrated a campaign of violence that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
In contrast, while the atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan were also horrific and involved widespread violence and human rights abuses, they may not meet the definition of genocide as there is not clear evidence of specific intent to destroy a particular group. For example, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the violence was primarily driven by political and ethnic conflicts rather than a specific intent to eradicate a particular ethnic group.
Therefore, based on the definition of genocide and the specific examples from the atrocity crimes in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and South Sudan, I would define the events in Rwanda as genocide.