Being killed for who you are, not what you did

People are not being killed for what they did they are being killed for who they are. The trend has spread and become far to common.
When we think of genocide World War II comes to mind. Hitler blamed Germanys problems on the Jewish people, claiming the Germans were superior and all other races should be eliminated. Concentration camps were set up and the extermination of the race began. It is suggested that over 11 million people were killed while Hitler was in power, 6 million of those Jews and the other the “undesirable population”.
From 1975-1979 an estimated 1.7-2 million people were killed in Cambodia. With the overthrow of the government, Pol Pot (new leader in Cambodia) believed that the communist model of Mao’s China should now be followed. Anyone who opposed the communist model was to be put to death, they assumed all intellectual and those educated were included in those who were against them and orders to exterminate were given. Among those killed were lawyers, doctors, teachers, bi-lingual’s, people were killed simply for wearing glasses. In 1978 with the invasion of Vietnam Pal Pot was overthrown and the genocide was ended. Rebuilding Cambodia was difficult due lack of foreign aid and the help of professionals who had been put to death.
After one genocide one would like to assume people have learned and surely after two. This is not the case for Bosnia- Herzegovina. From 1992 to 1995 there were over 200,000 deaths caused from conflict between the three major ethic groups: the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims. After the death of Tito (the communist leader) Yugoslavia economic situation declined dramatically. These were not the first genocides, nor will they be the last.

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is another place in Africa that has experienced extreme tragedy. From 1991 to 1999, more than half of the people who lived there were forced from their homes and their villages ransacked.The rebel leaders who were in need of money (to buy weapons) decided to force civilians into slavery. The RUF (the main rebel forces) intimated the people by cutting off their arms, carving "RUF" onto their bodies, raping, and/or killing them. They would jokingly ask ,"would you prefer short sleeves or long sleeves?" and then cut the persons arms off. They did not discriminate. Young or old, nobody was safe.



In 2004, the Congo faced United Nations sanctions because, despite the lack of a diamond industry, the country was exporting large volumes of diamonds for which they could not account for the origins. The United Nations feared the diamonds were being used to finance rebel violence. Conflict diamonds or blood diamonds, as they are known, are diamonds which are traded in a war zone in order to fund rebel groups and finance civil wars. They are often bought by large companies such as De Beers and then resold to the public. Customers in war-free zones unwittingly then indirectly subsidize cruel and inhumane conditions inflicted by rebels who control by terror. De Beers, after much public scrutiny in the 1990's, began a public campaign to assure it's customers that as of 1999, their diamonds were not conflict diamonds.

Morals on Killing

There are few consequences, if any, for people who commit acts of violence in the Congo. In the United States citizens know (for the most part) if you commit a crime there will be consequences. In the Congo, people are rarely charged with crimes and even less likely to be prosecuted. If someone knew why they rape and kill people as well as slaughter endangered wildlife, they may be able to stop it. This is probably why I'm so interested in the Congo. I don't understand it and I don't think many do. The idea of something being "immoral" doesn't exist in a place without rules. Without rules it would be difficult to determine the difference between what is "right" and what is "wrong". A Utilitarian would ask if murdering and raping would produce the best overall consequences. Any sane person would agree that it doesn't.



If you were to analyze the killing of the endangered hippo you could think of alternatives to killing the animal. The poacher could find another way of making the same amount of money doing something that does not harm endangered wild life. The action of killing the endangered animal hurts more than it helps. It is considered immoral. When endangered animal populations are reduced to zero, they cannot be recovered. Any future potential benefit to society dies with that particular animal.

Congo Wildlife

The Congo is filled with many beautiful animals which are being killed for their meat and byproducts. Nothing that breathes is safe in the Congo. With only 700 mountain gorillas left in the world, they are in danger of extinction. The gorillas trust humans. So it is not difficult for rebels in eastern Congo to slaughter and eat the animal. Another animal in danger is the hippo with only 900 remaining. In 1998, twenty-two thousand existed. More than 400 hippos were killed last year. The elephant is also endangered. At one time, there were as many as 10 million but now only 1,900 remain. The park rangers are in charge of the task of protecting wildlife and since 1996, over 97 rangers have perished.

www.wildlifedirect.org/gorillaprotection.

Rape in the Congo

Rape became a problem in the beginning of the war when rival militias used it as a tool to “threaten and demoralize communities that they believe supported the other side.” Since the beginning of the war sexual crimes have increased South Kivu, for example, had “27000 sexual assaults in 2006 and in the first half of this year 45000 cases have already been reported."


Many victims are raped and tortured in front of family members; family members are often forced to rape within the family (incest). Women are being raped to a point of vaginal fistula, a condition which requires multiple corrective surgeries. Many women do not even live long enough after the offense to have the option of surgery.

One woman visits the Congo in a effort to provide relief and reflects on her trip-

"Before I went to the Congo, I’d spent the past 10 years working on V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. I’d traveledto the rape mines of the world--places like Bosnia, Afghanistan and Haiti,where rape has been used as a tool of war. But nothing I ever experiencedfelt as ghastly, terrifying and complete as the sexual torture and attempted destruction of the female species here. The violence is a threat to all; young girls and village elders alike are at risk. It is not too strong to call this a femicide, to say that the future of the Congo’s women is in serious jeopardy." -Eve Ensler, V-Day founder and playwright

Brief History of the Congo

The Congo used to be considered an “Island,” maybe where one could vacation and soak up the sun. The Congo is now a war zone, and only those with a death wish would wish to bring their family here for summer vacation. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is also often referred to as the DRC. The massacre which continues today, began with the genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. It is said that the Hutu and Tutsi have had problems due to three underlying factors: the coexistence of pastoralists and sedentary farmers, a higher than usual population density, and a cultural divide between the original sons of the land and Kinyarwanda speaking immigrants- both Hutu and Tutsi. The extremists Hutu militias were “at war” against dissenters to their Hutu extremism. In 100 days an estimated 800,000 to 1,000,000 people were gruesomely murdered because of their religious beliefs. The Congo war began with the ‘Rwandan Genocide’ and continues to this day only now there are new victims of choice.