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More than fifteen years ater the appalling slaughter o

the Rwandan Genocide, in which no less than 800,000 innocentcivilians lost their lives, governments the world over have still

not developed national strategies or the prevention o mass

atrocity crimes. Decision makers continue to cling to an out-

dated and traditional view o the national interest that relegates

the prevention o mass atrocities as a secondary oreign policypriority.

The international community, which is code word or the

collection o national governments seated in the General As-

sembly at the United Nations in New York, ailed at stopping

the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. National governments were

not orthcoming in providing the UN with the tools, resources

and political support required to arrest that genocide once it had

begun. As a result, unnecessary human suering in the GreatLakes region o Arica continues unabated to this day, which

has destabilized an area geographically larger than continental

Western Europe and set in motion a dangerous domino eectthat transorms developing countries into ailed states.

The same process can now be observed emanating out o Su-

dans Darur region, where mass atrocities since 2003 have acted

as a trip wire to regional chaos, pulling Chad and the Central

Arican Republic into an unnecessary downward spiral.

The lessons learned rom the Rwandan Genocide created a

momentum in the 1990s or legitimate humanitarian interven-

tion to prevent mass atrocities. Encoded in the Responsibility

to Protect principles, a concept o sovereignty that obligatesall states to protect their citizens was advanced. The emerging

norm stipulates that i a state is unable or unwilling to protect

its own people rom gross human rights violations, then the

international community has a responsibility to engage and ll

the protection void. The use o military orce is permitted as alast resort and only in instances when all sot power strategies

have been exhausted.

While the UN General Assembly members, including Canada,

endorsed the Responsibility to Protect principles at the 2005

World Summit, rhetoric supporting action remains more preva-

lent than action itsel.

As a result o the 9/11 terrorist attacks, preventing mass atroci-

ties has been subjugated to the margins o international securitypolicy. An unortunate consequence o the international ocus

on Aghanistan is the corresponding ailure to consider the

international eects o predatory violence directed at civiliansin Arica. Sustained and well-planned strategies are needed to

end the worst conficts on that continent, particularly in the

Democratic Republic o the Congo.

That pre-9/11 momentum or humanitarian intervention now

needs to be rebuilt, painstakingly and careully, with national

governments taking the lead. Canada can and must do more to

prevent uture Rwandas.

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Mobilizing the will to intervene

of Mass atrocities

by Kyle Matthews and Romo Dallaire

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national and transnational threats

aecting states and their citizens.

There is widespread recognition

that geographically isolated coun-

tries, i allowed to all into disarray

through the sel-immolation processthat mass atrocities tend to gener-

ate, will come back to haunt us as

ailed states. Failed states become

ungovernable spaces that, rather

than contributing to regional peace

and stability, morph into transnational challenges o the rst

order. Witness the operational havens they become or ter-

rorist groups, as exemplied by pre-2001 Aghanistan. The

recent emergence o large-scale piracy surrounding the shores

o Somalia, where Canada has deployed its naval orces under

a NATO-led operation, is another recent example. States thatwill not or cannot stop mass atrocities will eventually become

the kind o states that will not or cannot prevent territory rom

being used as a base or terrorism, human tracking, drug and

arms smuggling, and other serious threats.

Third, as a result o the growing multi-cultural makeup o the

Canadian population combined with present day communica-

tion technologies that allow or news and images o real time

human suering to be relayed across the world in a matter o

seconds, mass atrocities occurring in ar away countries can

undermine the oundations o political stability and socialcohesion in Canada. The recent confict in Sri Lanka is a case in

point. In March 2009, more than 120,000 members o the Sri

Lankan Tamil diaspora in Toronto protested against the policies

o the Sri Lankan government towards the Tamil minority. Their

protest demonstrations paralyzed downtown Toronto, as they

demanded that Canada pressure the Sri Lankan government tohalt its military operations against the Tamil Tigers so that civil-

ians could be allowed to escape rom the confict zone. In May

2009, this group sustained protests on Parliament Hill or weeks,

and shut down a major highway in downtown Toronto.

New tools, new eraNot all is lost. Even middle powers like Canada can play a

constructive role in shaping and creating the uture world that

we aspire to live in. As the Will to Intervene Project report pro-

poses, policies need to be implemented to enhance government

coordination and build sot and hard power capacity. These

recommendations provide a ramework or action that is both

pragmatic and strategic. Small structural changes can have a realcumulative eect in harnessing all elements o Canadas national

power more eectively to prevent uture genocides.

In the domain o improving internal government coordina-tion, the creation o an interdepartmental Coordinating Oce

or the Prevention o Mass Atrocities would encourage Canadian

civil servants to channel intelligence to key decision makers and

permit the identication o who is responsible or decisions in

a timely manner. This would replace the ad hoc and temporary

inter-departmental task orce model. The creation o a perma-

nent structure should also be accompanied by the establishment

17November/December 2009 /Vanguard

Strategic imperativeMass atrocity crimes genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes

and crimes against humanity are too prevalent in our modern

age to warrant outright dismissal as unortunate occurrences

that are irregular and impossible to anticipate. In the 21st cen-tury, the combined impact o poverty and inequality, rapid

demographic growth, nationalism, and climate change will drive

the kind o deadly violence that will not only threaten interna-

tional peace and security, but will also aect Canadas domestic

security and economic prosperity as well.

In todays unstable and interdependent global environment,

the traditional national interest approach to oreign policy is

no longer eective.

Why must Canada and its citizens re-engage in creating do-

mestic political will to prevent mass atrocities? Besides the obvi-ous moral imperative and the legal obligation o national gov-

ernments to respond to situations when intelligence indicates

something sinister is unolding, there are also many ar-reaching

consequences that ultimately will aect Canadian society in a

negative manner. We are now only beginning to understand how

truly interconnected our world is through globalization.Mobilizing the Will to Intervene: Leadership and Action to Pre-

vent Mass Atrocities, the report issued by the Will to Intervene

Project at the Montreal Institute or Genocide and Human

Rights Studies, lays out in meticulous detail why preventing

mass atrocities should concern our policy elites. The reporturges elected ocials and high-level government ocials to

adopt a concept o the national interest that incorporates the

notion that preventing genocide and mass atrocities serves the

interests o Canada and not doing so puts the welare o Cana-

dian citizens at risk.

First, mass atrocities pose a serious risk to our public health.

Deadly violence unleashed against civilians generates internal

and external displacement, destroys critical health inrastruc-ture, spreads AIDS through rape as a weapon o war, and halts

inoculation and vaccination programs, thereby creating the

ideal conditions or inectious diseases to immerge. In addi-tion, those who are orced to fee genocidal violence oten have

no choice but to seek shelter and protection in overcrowded

and unsanitary reugee camps. These sites become breeding

grounds or disease outbreaks that sow the seeds or uture

global pandemics.

Second, mass atrocities generate serious security threats over

time. Security challenges now include a wider variety o inter-

Security

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18 Vanguard/November/December 2009

Security

o standard operating procedures or disseminating intelligence

concerning the risks o mass atrocities throughout the whole o

government. At present, there are no established governmental

processes or mechanisms in Ottawa designed or preventing

and responding to genocide. Addressing this would help in

overcoming competing departmental interests and cultures, aswell as enable Canada to better employ the diverse competencies

o the civil service.

Robust civilian and military capacities, which that are eld

deployable and sustainable, are essential to preventing uture

genocides. However, the ongoing Canadian engagement in

Aghanistan has depleted much o the countrys diplomatic,

development and military resources. The strategic establish-

ment o a Canadian Prevention Corps would create a permanent

civilian standby team based in Ottawa or preventive action. A

critical mass o multidisciplinary experts could be drawn rom

ederal agencies and departments to work with high-level spe-cial envoys or preventive diplomacy and act-nding missions.

This critical investment would augment Canadas diplomatic

capacity to monitor countries or early warning signs such as

hate propaganda, suspicious arms shipments, political extrem-

ism, exclusivist nationalism and state discrimination on ethnic,

religious, political or gender grounds. In addition, this initiative

should be accompanied by an increase in Canadas diplomatic

and development presence in ragile countries.

On the hard power side, there is a need to continue enhancing

the Canadian Forces capabilities by increasing its orce strength

and developing operational concepts, doctrine, orce structure,

and training to support civilian protection and engage in the

complex scenarios o counter-insurgency as the centre o a spec-

trum o intellectually based use o orce versus pure experientialand immediate use in extended sel-deense situations.

The continued development o an ocer corps, nurtured and

matured within an inter-disciplinary set o skills that permit

pro-active engagement in confict resolution without immedi-

ate reverting to the use o orce, will provide a more fexible and

innovative protection orce. Education in the arts and sciences

o anthropology, sociology and philosophy will provide depth

o knowledge to complete the warrior skills o our eld com-

manders and leaders. By addressing the size o the military, its

rapid deployment capacity, and operational eectiveness in

complex and dangerous environments, Canada will be betterpositioned to assume a greater leadership role in civilian protec-

tion operations.

These vital steps will transorm the short-term political calcu-

lations that today characterize Canadas response to mass atroci-

ties and begin a long-term policy shit in avor o preventive

action. I we chose not to move towards the path o prevention,

we will make little progress toward solving the recurring global

problems o mass atrocities and their lethal ripple eects.

The upcoming challengeConsensus is orming that Canada can play a leadership role

by revising outdated policies, developing new approaches and

increasing national capacities to prevent mass atrocities. Canada

needs to redene its national interests more broadly, not only to

help states rom going over the abyss o sel-destruction, but also

to help and protect Canadians. Our stake in international anddomestic security has converged with our stake in humanitarian

principles as never beore.

As one o the worlds leading democratic and pluralistic so-

cieties, Canada has a responsibility and a national interest in

putting the issue o genocide and mass atrocity prevention at theoreront o its international security and oreign policy agendas.

Our borders cannot be sealed hermetically rom the transna-

tional chaos mass atrocities produce. Indierence threatens

Canadas public health, domestic security, economic prosperity

and social cohesion in the long term.

Kyle Matthews is the lead

researcher for the Will to

Intervene Project at the

Montreal Institute for Geno-

cide and Human Rights

Studies, Concordia Univer-

sity. Previously, he worked

for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

LGen Romo Dallaire commanded the United Nations Assistance

Mission for Rwanda in 1994. He was appointed to the Senate in

2005 and serves as member of the Senate Standing Committee on

Human Rights.

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