Living.

On Friday, March 18th, I had the pleasure of hearing Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire deliver a keynote address for the Art's Student Union at the University of Waterloo. Dallaire, most known for his refusal to pull UN troops out of Rwanda during the genocide in 1994, talked mostly about the international community's responsibility to protect when a national government fails to provide security for its citizens. What struck me most, however, was his question "Are some humans more human than others?"

He understood conflict and a nation's willingness to intervene politically in terms of gain. When "personal" interests are not met, one's desire to intervene dramatically decreases. Such was the situation, as he explained, in the summer of 1994. The international community was hesitant to label the atrocities within Rwanda as genocide. Terms including "tribal civil war" and "acts of genocide" were used to describe the massacres, yet these terms did not necessitate an immediate reaction from the UN to intervene. In fact, when several Belgium UN Peacekeepers were killed, the UN urged Dallaire to pull his troops out because their lives were at risk. Yet despite this sense of urgency for peacekeepers, there was no similar response in fear for the lives of Rwandans. Why is this so? Can it be, then, that some humans are more “human” than others and deserve better treatment? Fortunately, the UN General Assembly has, since 2005, adopted the Responsibility to Protect, calling on the international community to intervene “where the state is unable or unwilling to meet its own responsibility” (Evans, 2008). As a result, there is now a mechanism of response that puts an emphasis on all human life, and not only those “worth saving.”

Despite the progress towards the equality of human life, however, there are still regions of the world where someone’s life is worth less than that of their peers. Such discrimination effectively denies thousands of individuals the “right to a range of economic, civil and political rights, including their right to acquire a nationality, to education, to security of the person and to freedom from discrimination (Amnesty International, 2007). Yet as a Canadian citizen, this reality of life is foreign and is at times disheartening.

Although such discrimination is not apparent in my daily life, it may very well be this summer. The Dominican Republic has had problems with illegal migrant workers coming from their neighbouring country, Haiti. In fact, estimates say there are approximately 800, 000 – 1, 000, 000 Haitians working in the Dominican Republic, accounting for approximately 10% of its population (Dominican Today, 2010). As a result, government officials have been increasing checkpoints for identification and deporting Haitians, who may have spent the last 10 or more years in the Dominican when the cane sugar industry needed help. The result? Many children born in the Dominican Republic with Haitian parents are denied their right to a nationality, and are considered stateless (Amnesty International, 2007). The lack of proper documentation and witnesses at the time of their birth make it hard for these children to gain Haitian citizenship as well. The children are, then, destined to a life of poverty: they cannot receive education and are denied many basic services.

This is what we should have to worry about: living. It is the reality of many people in the world that they stress about their next meal and where they will find work. On the other hand, last week’s newest Youtube sensation Rebecca Black reminds us that our biggest concern is sometimes determining which seat we can take in our friend’s convertible. So perhaps it is time to pick up a book, learn about an issue and fight for something that matters. We need to start looking beyond ourselves and start seeing the human in others.

Tim notes in his blog that Canada’s 18-30 year old population represents 35% of its demographic. This is enough to make a significant change in the politics of Canada, if we take a stand and vote for the issues that matter to us. In fact, Roméo Dallaire, as a current Canadian senator, noted that our generation has the ability to form a new political party if we truly wanted to and theoretically “take over parliament”. Yet the apathy and complacency in our lives focus our attention on the immediate and what is close to home.

In a way, it is ironic that my Beyond Borders placement is in the Dominican Republic, a country where the rigidity of its borders is constantly being fortified.
I do not know how this will affect my experiences in Cabrera. Fortunately Roméo Dallaire reminds us that life is valuable and, as such, I will try my best to value life in each person I meet.

Work Cited


Amnesty International. (2007). Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the United States: protect rights, reduce statelessness. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20070422232810/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR270012007

Dominican Today. (2010, June 29). Dominican immigration: number of illegal Haitians jumps 15% to 1.0M after quake. Retrieved from http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/poverty/2010/6/29/36162/Dominica n-Immigration-Number-of-illegal-Haitians-jumps-15-to-10M-after

Evans, Gareth. (2008). The Responsibility to Protect: ending mass atrocity crimes once and for all. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.