Rwandan & Darfur Women

Stefanie DebiasiNichole RegoJardine Sison

Rwandan women survivors have moved on to new lives, to spread awareness of sexual violence of Genocides. However, many Darfurian women have not been as fortunate and have yet to reach the point of rebuilding.

History of Rwanda

• Rwanda, known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is located in eastern-central Africa. It’s bordered by the countries of Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania.

• A majority of the population are Hutu, with the minority as Tutsi.

Why were they split up racially?

• Before the arrival of the Belgian colonists in 1916…

• After their arrival, the Belgians deemed the Tutsi to be far superior, allowed them to have better jobs and education opportunities.

How the Rwandan genocide began…• Years before the genocide– The state of the Rwandan economy had

begun to go downhill – President Juvenal Habyarimana began to

lose his popularity amongst the citizens of Rwanda.

• During that time– Tutsi refugees were assembling the Rwanda

Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Paul Kagame.

• Habyarimana’s plane was shot down over the country’s capital city of Kigali in early April of 1994.

• The onslaught of the radical Hutus on the Tutsis and moderate Hutus were set in motion…– Leaders of the political opposition were killed– Recruits were sent out to many parts of Rwanda to

carry out their wave of carnage on innocent lives.

• Once the RPF captured Kigali in July, the Rwandan government gave way and the RPF declared a ceasefire.

• What happened to the Hutu’s?– As an estimated two million Hutus fled to the

neighboring countries– A multi-ethnic government was set up, with a Hutu

president, Pasteur Bizimungu, and Kagame as his deputy.

• However, the two never could never work their disagreements – Bisimungu was incarcerated on charges of stirring

ethnic violence– Kagame takes up his place as president.

It may seem like the killings are over, but the hostility has not died down.

Reconstruction of Rwandan women

• Human rights violated during 1994 genocide

• Taking the lead in government

• Community leaders• Reconciling in community

History of Darfur…

• Sudan Liberation Army and the Justice and Equality Movement rebelled against the government due to accusations of the government favoring Arabs not Africans.

• National Islamic Front fought rebellion attacks through Sudanese government military “not the Janjaweed militia” who is the primary cause of the massive amount of death in Darfur.

The beginning of the Darfur genocide

• From February 2003 the notorious “Janjaweed” militia has terrorized Darfur.

• The victims consists of the the Fur, Massaleit, Zaghawa, Tunjur, Birgid, and Dajo tribes.

• The National Islamic Front who controls the Sudan Government refuses to put a stop to the massacre.

Progression of Darfur Women

• Currently the women residing in Darfur are not able to reconstruct.

• Women who have fled the country and moved to neighboring countries have been able to share their stories and make awareness of the horrible tragedies currently taking place.

• Getting their voices heard is one of the main steps of reconstruction that is attainable for them until further notice.

Violation of Human rights

• How do they apply to Genocides?– Universal Declaration of Human Rights– Direct violation of Universal Rights

• Were they upheld?• Actions that violated UDHR?– Rwandan Genocide– Now, In Darfur

Where do we go from here?• What our goal was when researching and presenting…

•What WE can do to help the victims of the Darfur genocide happening now.• Humanatarian sites to be pro-

active.• http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-sahara

n_africa/sudan/ngolist.html

• One right answer=ten grains• http://www.freerice.com/

“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to

change them yourself.” - Andy Warhol

THANK YOU!

Picture Citations

• http://www.intentblog.com/archives/rwanda.jpg• httpsponsorimpact.files.wordpress.com200907rwanda.jpg• http://www.aperture.org/exposures/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/valentine-with-her-daughter

s-amelie-and-inez.jpg• http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.msf.org/source/annual/topten/

2005/16243.jpg&imgrefurl=http://children.foreignpolicyblogs.com/page/4/%3Fs%3Dinequality&usg=__2-sUpyojBO7eZNQrmG0em22RBwg=&h=399&w=600&sz=187&hl=en&start=3&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=MR6CaXthin5DaM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drwanda%2Bwomen%2Bhuman%2Brights%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBF_enUS329US329%26tbs%3Disch:1

• http://www.visionmagazine.com/archives/0803/images/VOICES.jpg• http://farm1.static.flickr.com/135/319559517_721acf7df2.jpg• http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/online/2008/05/21/katine-rwanda-women.jp

g• http://soultravelmultimedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/Women-in-Darfur.jpg• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/32_lineup_of_galap_women_hp.jpg

• http://werievents.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/0120darfur20darfur20lynsey20addario20high20res.jpg

Picture Citations• http://www.info-regenten.de/regent/regent-d/pictures/rwanda.jpg• http://www.laconscience.com/IMG/jpg/habyarimana_juvenal.jpg• http://www.paulkagame.com/old/res/photos/kagame_small.jpg• http://www.sfbayview.com/wp-content/uploads/plane-crash-040694-assassinating-rwanda-preside

nt-juvenal-habyarimana-burundi-president-cyprien-ntaryamira.jpg• http://www.unhcr.org/thumb1/4a8037136.jpg• http://content.ll-0.com/jcrcgw/little_kids.jpg• http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/26/international/africa/26sudan.html• http://www.terroristplanet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/darfur_genocide.jpg• http://www.iansa.org/women/images/darfur1.jpg• http://organizations.missouristate.edu/stand/Darfur-Map.gif• http://thevisualpoetssociety.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/darfur-now-1.jpg• http://

www.paff.org/home/files/imagecache/film_body_image/files/films/Darfur%20Now.bmp