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n many countries and many periods a person’s ethnic identity has had profound consequences for his or her physical safety, political status, and economic prospects. Violent confrontation along ethnic lines is the most apparent form of ethnic conflict, and it recently has claimed lives in such diverse places throughout the world. The three most terrible ethnic conflicts have been the conflict in Rwanda, in former Yugoslavia, and The Holocaust during World War II in Europe.
Rwanda is a country located in Central Africa but this green and fertile country has a dark side. According to the times gone by Rwanda was segregated in two ethnic groups: the tutsi population and hutu people. The majority group was Hutu and the minority was the Tutsi group. Generally ethnic groups different to the nationality of the dominant group in the country not enjoy a special legal status[1] therefore, in this country Tutsi people are in disadvantage. In 1994 Hutu people settled to exterminate the other ethnic group and killed each others. Consequently, deaths overcome a million of people. The consequences of the genocide continue affecting the region for instance, there are hundreds of thousands survivors traumatized, the infrastructure is in ruins, and over one hundred thousand are accused perpetrators imprisoned. Nowadays the justice and reconciliation around the country still complicated.
Above in the map is Yugoslavia whose main ethnic and religious groups are Slovenes, Hungarians, and Croats (Catholic), Bosnian and Albanians (Muslims), and Macedonians, Serbs, and Montenegrins (Orthodox). In 1991 starts a dissection of the past Federal Republic, because Slovenia and Croatia become independent countries. A year later Bosnia gains independence also and Bosnian Serbs announced the Serbia Republic. For this reason, a conflict between Croatia and Serbia begins; thus, the Serbian Army gets involved in Bosnia where begins an ethnic cleansing. The conflict involved all nationalities and ethnic groups. This confrontation was called the Bosnia's War; as a result, 250.000 persons died.
Another sanguinary event in the history is the Holocaust. This fact was happened between 1939 and 1941 when the Germans, led by Adolf Hitler, fought in order to take the whole control of Europe. Germans applied a policy called The New Order. The idea of this tack was that Europe had been taken by Germans who, according to Hitler, were a superior race. Millions of prisoners were recruited meanwhile the Jewish civilian population were forced to work in German war industries. The concentration camps became in centers of mass extermination, with gas chambers and crematoria ovens. Almost 6 million of Jews and many Europeans of other nationalities died in them[2]. Prisoners were humiliated, raped, tortured, and after that, murdered.
Ethnic conflicts such as in Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, and The Holocaust during World War II triggered the worst feelings a human being can have. Any country or society can go through such terrors. Different religion, race, and beliefs are not good reasons to kill each other. It depends on new generations not to repeat the terrible crimes against.
Hi Mary,
ResponderEliminarThe issue of ethnic conflict do not like, it is amazing how human land we fight we really relates to that of all, according to the readings we did for the paragraph I realized the massacres that are made accept no ethnic differences between different races.
I believe that with God all are equal differences between races or cultures we are just that different characters of each people and no person who will be a valid reason to wage war.
Thanks.
Gabriela Murillo.