As I listened to the news this morning about the UN security council meeting last night that had failed to reach a resolution on the increasing atrocities in Syria, my heart fell. I had a sense of history repeating itself.
When I was in Rwanda in July this year with a CRED team we visited the Genocide Memorial museum in Kigali. The displays were very graphic, and there was no doubting the terrible acts that took place. One section of the museum outlined the build-up to the genocide, and the intervention, or not, of the international community. It spoke of the slow and inadequate response of the United Nations, and of how so many people would still be alive now if the response had been quicker and more determined.
When we met with some of the genocide victims, and they told their stories, occassionally it was mentioned how they wondered if the world would help save them in some way; and one of the victims spoke of how they had sought shelter in the UN compound, but then when the UN withdrew those seeking shelter were abandoned to their fate.
I wonder how many Syrians are feeling the same today? How many Syrian children are asking their parents, as they wait to hear the next bomb falling, or learn that another friend or family member has been killed, whether the outside world cares at all?
I know the solutions to these awful situations are never straightforward, and I'd hate to be one of the people having to work out what is truth, what is propaganda, and what is the right response. But at the same time, I do wonder how much worse the conflict has to get before the world decides it can't stand by and watch any longer, but instead will take some action to try and help save a very very hurt, angry and broken country.
I'm not going to suggest what that action should be - I don't think I really know - but I pray that something will change, so that there is an end to this shedding of so much innocent blood; and that historians won't look back and say that the actions, or inactions, of the world are another example of history repeating itself again.
When I was in Rwanda in July this year with a CRED team we visited the Genocide Memorial museum in Kigali. The displays were very graphic, and there was no doubting the terrible acts that took place. One section of the museum outlined the build-up to the genocide, and the intervention, or not, of the international community. It spoke of the slow and inadequate response of the United Nations, and of how so many people would still be alive now if the response had been quicker and more determined.
When we met with some of the genocide victims, and they told their stories, occassionally it was mentioned how they wondered if the world would help save them in some way; and one of the victims spoke of how they had sought shelter in the UN compound, but then when the UN withdrew those seeking shelter were abandoned to their fate.
I wonder how many Syrians are feeling the same today? How many Syrian children are asking their parents, as they wait to hear the next bomb falling, or learn that another friend or family member has been killed, whether the outside world cares at all?
I know the solutions to these awful situations are never straightforward, and I'd hate to be one of the people having to work out what is truth, what is propaganda, and what is the right response. But at the same time, I do wonder how much worse the conflict has to get before the world decides it can't stand by and watch any longer, but instead will take some action to try and help save a very very hurt, angry and broken country.
I'm not going to suggest what that action should be - I don't think I really know - but I pray that something will change, so that there is an end to this shedding of so much innocent blood; and that historians won't look back and say that the actions, or inactions, of the world are another example of history repeating itself again.
No comments:
Post a Comment