Developmental perspective to bullying Essay Example for Free

Developmental perspective to bullying Essay Researches have found that the nature of bullying and victimisation changes with age and differs by gender as well. It is also found that previous experiences influence the likelihood that children will become bullies and/or victims. The type of aggression and the relationship context for the aggression change as the child grows and development occurs. A general guideline can be prepared for the type of aggression and the target of aggression that emerge in different stages of development of children. (Pepler, D. , 1999) Figure 3: Type of aggression by developmental stage (Pepler, D., 1999) A Social- Ecological Systems Perspective on Bullying Social –ecological system perspective looks at bullying in terms of influence from multiple environments. Figure 4: A social-ecological framework of bullying among youth (Espelage, D. L. et al 2004) This perspective is based on the understanding that bullying does not occur in isolation. According to this principle, bullying is a phenomenon that is encouraged or inhibited as a result of the complex relationship between the different entities, namely, the individual, family, peer group, school, community and the culture. As shown in figure-1, the individual is at the centre of the social ecology. The individual involved may be a victim, bully, bully-victim or bystander. Individual factors influence the participation in bullying through different actions or inaction. An example is how the individual gender mediates the engagement in bullying. The bully, bully-victim, or bystander, all could exist in a family. This points to how the family can influence bullying behaviours. The bullying behaviour between the siblings can influence the development of bullying or victimisation in the individual at school. The social ecology includes other entities such as peers and the school as well. The social environment at school also influences bullying and victimisation. If an individual attends a school where a bullying climate exists, it is likely to be involved in bullying either as a bully, victim or any other role. The peer group often influences how the individual is likely to behave in terms of bullying. If the individual’s peer group supports bullying, then the individual is more likely to engage in bullying behaviour. The community extends the environment of the school to other areas that the individual uses. The community consists of school, peer group, family, and the individual apart from other roles that the individual interacts in day-to-day life. The culture consists of the general norms, beliefs and practices that could either support or inhibit bullying of individuals. The ecological-systems theory is based on the principle that all individuals are part of an inter-related system that consists of several roles and entities, but keeps the individual at the centre and looks at how the other entities affect the individual from the perspective of bullying. This model was put forward by Bronfenbrenner (1979). It puts forth the nature of human interaction and behaviour and how it is inter-related to other systems. According to this theory, the child is an inseparable part of a social network that consists of inter-related systems. These systems can be categorised into four: micro system, meso system, exo system and macro system. These different systems are inter-related to each other and the child is at the centre of these systems and actively involved in the interplay of these systems. The micro system pertains to the child’s relationship with one system such as home, classroom or playground. It depicts the child’s interaction with others as well as other’s reaction to the bullying behaviours. It also includes the status of the child in the bully/ victim continuum at any point of time. The micro system takes into account the interaction between the bully, victim, bully-victim or the bystander and the social environment. This can either encourage the bullying behaviour or restrict it. The meso system involves the congruence of two or more environments that are relevant to the individual. An example of such environments is home and school. It includes the inter-relationship between these systems. The exo-system consists of influences from other contexts that are related to bullying. An example of this context is the effect of a school district’s anti-bully policy or even the involvement of parents in the school system. The macro system involves the influence of broader entities such as the society in general. It looks at the attitudes of the society towards the bullying behaviour. This theory provided framework for prevention and intervention techniques that can be derived from it. It also helps to measure the effectiveness of these programs by looking at it from different perspectives. It provides framework for collection of data from multiple informants who are in different sub-systems using different methods. The model also can be effectively used for assessment. This is because each individual or the school or the environment is different. Any intervention or prevention program need to take into account this peculiarity. It also provides a framework for different programs that are applicable to different sub-systems such as individual-focussed program, family-focussed program and system-focussed program. (Espelage, et al, 2004).

A Report on Health and Safety in Architecture

A Report on Health and Safety in Architecture In simple terms, health and safety is about identifying risks and eliminating or controlling them to stop accidents and occupational ill-health. Today there is a high focus on safety in the industry. Many companies have documented that the safety and well being of their workers and fellow human beings deserve the highest priority. In history, this is a major leap. If one looks at the approach and many deaths during projects such as the great Chinese wall, which is still measured to be the largest construction project to date, the dive is visible. One ancient Chinese myth states that each stone in the great Chinese wall stands for a life gone during the walls construction. Although no files are obtainable this myth may be nearer to fact than we would like to think. Archaeologists have revealed thousands of bodies covert in the foundation of the wall. Bodies were also used to make up the walls thickness. It has been estimated that millions of workers lost their lives due to accidents, strong physical labour, hunger, and disease. This is in the order of size of a life per metre of wall length! Statistics from the UK Health and Safety Executive show that normally one or two people are killed every week as a effect of construction work. Occupational ill-health, which can build up over time, accounts for further loss of life. This fact sheet provides an foreword to health and safety best practice for construction companies and construction industry professionals, clients and their advisors. 2.2 million people work in Britains construction industry, making it the countrys biggest industry. It is also one of the most risky. In the last 25 years, over 2,800 people have died from injuries they received as a result of construction work. Many more have been injured or made ill. One in five construction sites failed health and safety checks during the latest national inspection proposal carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Inspectors from Britains workplace regulator visited 1759 refurbishment sites during March and checked on how 2145 contractors were complying with health and safety regulations.On 348 sites sufficiently grave risks were discovered to warrant enforcement action being taken either stopping work straight away or ordering improvements to be made (Phil Hughes, 2005). PROVISIONAL TITLE HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE SAFETY PERFORMANCES AT CONSTRUCTION SITES. STUDY THE DIFFERENT SAFETY MEASURES FOLLOWED IN GREAT BRITAIN. This paper investigates the existing safety measures at construction sites in Britain. The review of literature touches on the importance of safety in the construction industry, the types of construction hazards, British Labour Law on the protection against occupational risks and industrial accidents, construction site security, etc. The background of Britain is described; a study of safety levels at construction sites is conducted through questionnaires. Conclusions are made about the legal approaches to the regulation of occupational safety and health. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Aim: To investigates the existing safety measures at construction sites. Study the importance of safety in the construction industry, the types of construction hazards, industrial accidents, construction site security, etc. Analysis the health and safety in British constructions. Objectives or Purpose of the study: To achieve the goal of this study, it is needed to: Make a brief overview of all health and safety in the present construction industries. Analyse the ways in which these safety measures are using in various construction industries. Study on British construction industries and their way of using safety measures. Identify recent accidents occur at construction industries in Britain. Attempt a brief comparison between the difference in safety measures using in Britain and other developing countries. Suggest various ways to reduce accidents at construction sites by using safety measures effectively. LITERATURE REVIEW Due to the current condition of the U.S. economy, the construction industry is throbbing. The amount of financial support from both government and independent contracts has been adequately decreased; contractors are going to have a hard time funding and implementing their projects. Construction deals are being broken down and shut down due to a lack of capital while others are rolling without the correct needs, safety standards, and training programs. When the latter occurs there is a far greater risk for a construction accident to happen. Structures used to facilitate construction, such as framework and scaffolding, are often not given the importance they deserve, because of their momentary nature and because their cost is not recoverable from a single construction as a line item. Consequently, in many countries, the accident and failure rate for temporary structures are higher than those in eternal structures. Every industrial accident leads to tragedies such as injury or death to persons, and damage to property and the environment, with all the linked direct and indirect costs and effort. Economically and professionally more important is the fact that accidents also lead to delays in the construction process. All these add up to unwanted repercussions, not only on the workers and the organizations concerned, but also on the entire construction industry, the community, and, if the accidents and failures are sufficiently great or frequent, on the government itself. Most of the accidents and failures in momentary struc tures may be traced mainly to minor mistakes in fabrication, to moderately inexpensive items of materials or equipment, and to oversight or negligence in the functioning of applicable codes and regulations (Alan Griffith, 2001). Statistic has shown that the number of casualty and permanent disablement cases due to accident at the Malaysia construction sites is one of the uppermost as compared to the other sector. Even though the number of engineering accidents decreasing but the benefits paid to the accidents victims are ever increasing. Hence, there is an burning need to mitigate this problem. There are three basic steps that should be taken namely identifying the hazard, assessing the risk and domineering the risk to ensure a safe and conducive working condition. Implementation of effective hazards control methods may require different approaches due to changing of working environment at the construction sites. Latest technology employed at site had wiped out traditional method of construction and consequently bring in new types of hazard to the industry. There is an state compulsion for workers to ensure their own safety and health and, in agreement with specific instructions and the preparation they have received, to make correct use of safety devices and observe all safety rules, both collective and individual, and any other means of protection, warning or control. This obligation also extends to the use of machinery, equipment, tools, substances and risky products to ensure that inappropriate use does not jeopardise the health and safety of other employees and persons who may be there in the place of work. The basis of British health and safety law is the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.The Act sets out the general duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and employees have to themselves and to each other. These duties are capable in the Act by the code of so far as is reasonably practicable. In other words, an employer does not have to take method to avoid or reduce the risk if they are technically impossible or if the time, trouble or cost of the measures would be grossly disproportionate to the risk. What the law requires here is what superior management and general sense would lead employers to do anyway: that is, to look at what the risks are and take reasonable measures to tackle them. The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (the Management Regulations) generally make more clear what employers are required to do to manage health and safety under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Like the Act, they apply to every work ac tivity (Vivian Ramsey, 2007). The injure and death rate on buildings sites in London makes construction work the most risky job in the capital. People are injured every day and on average someone dies every month. What makes this even more appalling is that these are the least accident rates yet recorded. Our report is concerned with improving the health and well-being of Londons construction workers at a time when construction work is booming. Nearly  £5 billion is being spent each year, just on new building projects. It is clear that we are not yet doing all we can to stop accidents. The industry has set itself targets to reduce accidents, but is not yet on track to reduce these targets. Everyone involved in commissioning, delivering and working in construction still must do more to make this industry as safe as any other. We should not accept as a fact of life that construction work is dangerous and nothing can be done. The 2012 Olympics is the perfect cabinet for how construction projects can be Commissione d and delivered to the highest standard. We do not want a repeat of the Situation in Athens where 14 workers died on the projects unswervingly associated with the Olympics and as many as 26 in the building of following transport infrastructure (Richard Fellows, 2001). Complete safety does not exist. Safety is often defined as taking acceptable risks. This recognises that in fact every activity, whether it is driving a car, cooking in the kitchen or working on a drilling rig has linked risks. By accepting that there will always be a certain risk concerned it is possible to reduce risks, by dropping the chance of an unsafe event and mitigating its result. Lack of training has been recognized as one of the major contributory factors in accidents and ill health in construction. Many activities are made safe simply by ensuring that those doing the work have knowledge of and understand the importance of safe practices. The incidence of inspections depends on the nature and place of work. For example, following the first inspection, work at places over two metres in height require weekly inspections. In contrast, for work in excavations (including shafts and tunnels), inspections are necessary at the start of every shift. Inspections help to ensure that safety is monitored during changing site circumstances. Reports detailing inspections are generally required every time an inspection is carried out, but there are exceptions. Executive Research Methodology In order to understand the various health and safety measures in the present construction industries in Britain different methodologies have to be adopted. Primary Sources Interview Direct Interview is one of the main sources of primary data today. This method would be used for the internal research. The internal research will focus on a few semi-structured interviews with a few senior and top managers. The intention is to formulate a true picture of the health and safety measures used in Great Britain These interviews will help to find out the reasons for the accidents occurring in construction industries. Questionnaires Another methodology that I hope to adopt for my research is the questionnaires. Questionnaires are more economical, and easier to arrange; the answers too will be in a standardized format. In situations of difficulty to get appointments with the top-level managers this method would be used. Postal questionnaires will be sent to top managers of the Companies and the responses can be analyzed. Secondary Sources Book Reviews The external research will be carried out through the reading and understanding of published material. This includes books and articles written on the importance of safety in the construction industry, the types of construction hazards, British Labour Law on the protection against occupational risks and industrial accidents, construction site security. Etc. Internet Research Internet research is another source of secondary data. This will be used to gather historical and current information on health and safety in the world especially in Britain. This will also help us to get information on Company infrastucture as a whole. Documents Documents can be treated as a source of data in their own right. In effect it can be an alternative to questionnaires, interviews or observation. This includes published materials of company details Data analysis In order to analyze the data both quantitative and qualitative research has to be performed. Qualitative research In qualitative research words are the units of analysis. Qualitative research tends to be associated with description. The data needed for qualitative analysis has to be gathered from interviews and questionnaires. Methods like ethnography will be used for the process of qualitative analysis and ethnographic data storage software will be used to store information. There are many advantages of using such software which will help store the data safely, the data can be coded easily, and retrieval of data will be more reliable. Computerization removes barriers and scales to the scale and complexity of analysis. There are virtually no clerical limits to how much stuff you get now, and few to how complex it is. (Richards and Richards 1993:40) Quantitative research Quantitative research tends to be associated with numbers, as the unit of analysis and it tends to be associated with statistical data. Charts and graphs have to be constructed from the figures and information gathered from the questionnaires and researches. Word processing and spreadsheet packages can be used for this purpose. Information in the form of numbers will be gathered from Company Mangers by using different data collection tools like questionnaires, review of previous documents etc. and the data will be used to construct meaningful figures and charts using software. Form of Presentation The dissertation will be presented in a written form supplemented with charts showing current and historical data. Projected Findings The importance of health and safety measures in the construction industries and the methods used in Britain. REFERENCES: Phil Hughes (MSc, FIOSH, RSP.), Ed Ferrett , Introduction to health and safety in construction, Butterworth-Heinemann; 2 edition (2005) Alan Griffith, Tim Howarth, Construction health and safety management, Longman (2001) Vivian Ramsey, Construction law handbook, Thomas Telford Ltd (2007) Richard Fellows, David Langford, Robert Newcombe, Sydney Urry, Construction Management in Practice, WileyBlackwell; 2nd Edition edition (2001) http://www.forthconstruction.co.uk/downloads/an-introduction-to-health-safety.pdf accessed on 14/12/09 at 5.30 pm http://www.engineeringpage.com/technology/safety/safety_induction.html accessed on 14/12/09 at 6.00 pm http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm accessed on 14/12/09 at 6.00 pm http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/149934.php accessed on 14/12/09 at 10.30 pm http://www.profkrishna.com/ProfK-Assets/CAFEOPaper.pdf accessed on 15/12/09 at 8.30 pm http://eprints.utm.my/445/1/1A_5._Abdul_Rahim_Hazard_at_construction_site_PAGE_(95-104).pdf accessed on 15/12/09 at 11.30 pm http://rome.angloinfo.com/countries/italy/work13.asp accessed on 15/12/09 at 12.30 am http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hsc13.pdf accessed on 16/12/09 at 1.30 pm http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/reports/health/construction.pdf accessed on 16/12/09 at 5.30 pm http://www.healthandsafety.co.uk/conregs.htm accessed on 16/12/09 at 10.00 pm BIBLIOGRAPHY. John R. Illingworth, Construction methods and planning, Taylor Francis, 2 edition (2000) http://www.constructionhealthandsafety.co.uk/ accessed on 16/12/09 at 12.30 am http://www.theiet.org/publishing/books/bus-comp/construction-health-safety.cfm accessed on 16/12/09 at 1.00 am

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues - Same-sex Marriage Laws Violate Gay R

Laws Violate Gay Rights When I was in third grade, I learned that there are certain "inalienable rights"-- the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- all of which the United States government is committed to protecting for every human. Last week, I learned this government feels that these human rights are limited to some people, based on how they choose to practice sex. In two separate legislations last week, the United States Senate sanctioned discrimination against homosexual Americans. The issue recently surfaced in Hawaii when the state denied marriage privileges to a lesbian couple. In May 1993, the State Supreme Court ruled in a 3-1 decision that the state's exclusion of same-sex marriage was sexual discrimination and thus unconstitutional unless there was "compelling evidence" for it. In 1995, a governor's commission recommended the state grant marital rights to homosexuals. The "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution says that states must accord reciprocity to laws (and contracts) of other states. Thus a couple could get married in Hawaii, move to another state and demand that the state recognize their marriage contract unless laws in the new state conflict directly with laws in the former state. This led the House to pass the Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) this July with the Senate concurring on Sept. 10. Social Security, Veter-an's and other federal benefits such as married tax status will simply be denied to Americans who do not conform to a sexual pattern preferred by others in society. I don't know where in the Constitution Congress is permitted to legislate the morality that a man must marry a woman. Furthermore, DoMA permits states to... ... other may make some people uncomfortable. But their union does not infringe on anyone else's life, liberty or pursuit of happiness, and they have a claim to pursue their human rights and marry each other. What has Congress to gain by passing this restrictive law? It is only election-year politics to woo the radical right. The United States government is unfairly discriminating against a portion of the United States population and we should not stand for this public "gay bashing." Discrimination is still legal because the measure failed 50-49. Senator Pryor (D-Ark.) was attending his son's cancer surgery; otherwise, he would have supported the bill. Vice President Al Gore had promised to break the tie in support of the bill, but the motion failed. Now it is legally OK to not hire someone based on his or her sexual preference.

Programs for Children and Adolescents

Bullock, L. , M. , and Gable, R. , A. (2006). â€Å"Programs for Children and Adolescents With Emotional and Behavior Disorders in the United States: A Historical Overview, Current Perspectives, and Future Directions. † Preventing School Failure, Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 7-13. A. The article by Lyndal M. Bullock and Robert A.Gable is devoted to the important and ever urgent topic of the difficult problems that teachers and other educational professionals encounter during their attempts to find effective ways for a proper inclusion of children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (E/BD) into the educational processes, either in frames of the general educational institutions, or under the auspices of special programs and educational settings specifically designed for those having various forms of E/BD.The format of the article is such that it includes both general historical and factual information about the discussed field, and sets forth several research question s that are elaborated and partially answered by the authors during the course of the article. Those questions pertain to the influence that factors of the disproportionality and personnel shortages have on the effectiveness of programs for children and adolescents with E/BD. B. It is important to point out, that for a clear and focused discussion of the mentioned complex topics, it is essential to distinguish between various forms of E/BD and related disorders.The authors of the article do exactly that as they classify the population of children and adolescents who are covered and not covered by their study. For example, they not only discuss statistics related to E/BD, but as well provide comparative tables that show the place that E/BD hold among all disabilities that are served under â€Å"Individuals With Disabilities Education Act† (IDEA). Furthermore, in the article the analysis is offered that shows how the population of participants identified in the study is structur ed according to age and race or ethnicity, which significantly enriches the methodological usefulness of the article.In general, the authors make it easier for readers to trace throughout the article information about the population of children and adolescents with E/BD of ages 3-21 and of Caucasian/White, African American, American Indian, Hispanic, and Asian races and ethnicities. C. The study contained in the article is of a relatively short length, but has quite a concentrated amount of information, and offers a large number of references and an extensive bibliography.In this way, the study by Bullock and Gable is not limited to a certain location, but rather is a summary of their own more narrowly focused pieces of research combined with relevant contributions of other researchers. D. Due to the chosen approach to the investigation of the research questions, the result that the authors reach is not limited to the confirmation of the urgency of those questions, but as well is re inforced by the authors` ability to place the problems related to the much needed programs for those affected with E/BD into the general social context.Indeed, the authors manage to convincingly show that the passive stance towards the discussed problems may lead to their significant aggravation already in the near future. E. Considering the mentioned points, the main strength of the article is the ability of the authors to synthesize specific information in such a way as to make it understandable not only to experienced educational professionals, but as well for younger ones to whom the authors appeal in the article as they discuss personnel shortages presumably with the aim to interest new potential specialists on E/BD.Also, the strength of the article is its successful combination of historical data and forecasts, which gives the sense of the direction of the development of the discussed field. As a weakness of the article may be identified its lack of inclusion of relevant forei gn experience which might add useful insights on E/BD treatment.F. Similarly to the above mentioned strength of the article, I believe that I should use the strategy of integral and coherent presentation of information in my teaching because it helps students correctly appreciate the general context that any given information is almost always placed in. In practice, this way of presentation of information can increase the interest and personal involvement of students in the process of study, and may help them immediately see how even a small contribution of one teacher can have significance for many people.

Light and Dark in The Road by Cormac McCarthy essays

Light and Dark in The Road by Cormac McCarthy essays In the novel The Road, Cormac McCarthy uses many binaries. A binary opposition is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning; one of which is Light versus Dark. The common idea of light versus dark is that light is always good and darkness is always evil. However this idea tends to be too much of a generalization. Not all of the people who follow the light are good and many good people do happen to follow the dark. Despite all of the issues with Light versus Dark it really is a simple thing. All it comes down to is ones personal point of view. Someone who looks upon the world as a bad place to live, who feels no hope that anything could get better, is someone who lives with a dark mind. People of this sort arent necessarily FOLLOWERS of the dark but they ARE the basic orientation of darkness. On the other hand someone who always finds the positive things in life and finds the good in almost everything is someone whose basic orientation is of the light. Neither of these is right or wrong, and each of these can make plausible arguments for their points of view. Since people who follow the light tend to be optimistic, positive, and hopeful people the boy from The Road falls under this character. Throughout the novel the boy remained to always be positive and optimistic about the south. He is filled with innocence since he has known no other world. "Maybe he understood for the first time that to the boy he was himself an alien. A being from a planet that no longer existed. The tales of which were suspect. He could not construct for the child's pleasure the world he'd lost without constructing the loss as well and he thought perhaps the child had known this better than he." (129-130) The man sees light in two ways. The first one is through the boy. He knew only that the child was his warrant. He said: If he is not the word of God God never spoke.(5) The boy is the man...

5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists

5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists 5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists 5 Sentences with Problematic Parallelism in Lists By Mark Nichol It’s too bad you can’t eat grammatical errors or use them to fill your gas tank, because they’re a cheap, endlessly renewable resource. Here’s a five-course meal of sentences with troublesome structure, starting with dessert. 1. â€Å"The writer will sit, eat, and interview the subject.† It seems more logical for the writer to interview the subject after being seated but before eating him or her, but whatever. If the intended meaning of the statement is that the writer will dine with the subject rather than cannibalistically consume him or her, however, the sentence should be revised as follows: â€Å"The writer will sit and eat with, and interview, the subject.† Better yet, for a smoother flow to the sentence, introduce a pronoun: â€Å"The writer will sit and eat with the subject and interview him [or her].† 2. â€Å"The committee consists of the executive directors of the Bay Area Toll Authority, California Transportation Commission, and California Department of Transportation.† Normally, items in a list can share an article (â€Å"the birds, bees, flowers, and trees†), or each can have its own (â€Å"the birds, the bees, the flowers, and the trees†), but when the list items are proper nouns, it’s best to assign an article to each one so that it doesn’t appear that the entities after the first one are erroneously referred to without an article: â€Å"The committee consists of the executive directors of the Bay Area Toll Authority, the California Transportation Commission, and the California Department of Transportation.† 3. â€Å"His contribution to the interior design of the home is his impressive antique musical instruments and modern art collection.† The statement implies that the collection consists of antique musical instruments and modern art, but technically, the reference should be to two distinct collections, described in the plural form and with each description preceded by its own plural pronoun: â€Å"His contributions to the interior design of the home are his impressive antique musical instruments and his modern art collection.† Alternatively, the sentence could be revised as follows, with the collections referred to as a single contribution or a pair of contributions: â€Å"His contribution(s) to the interior design of the home is (or are) his impressive collections of antique musical instruments and modern art.† 4. â€Å"The organization promotes sustainable landscaping practices, green building-construction methods and products, and minimizing pesticide use in the home.† The inconsistency of syntax here is that the first two items are modified with adjectives, while the third is described as an action. Change the verb in the final item to an adjective: â€Å"The organization promotes sustainable landscaping practices, green building-construction methods and products, and minimal pesticide use in the home.† Alternatively, introduce verbs into each of the other items: â€Å"The organization promotes employing sustainable landscaping practices, utilizing green building-construction methods and products, and minimizing pesticide use in the home.† 5. â€Å"Here come the summer movies- the usual formulaic action flicks, dumb comedies, and sequels.† This sentence is not wrong, but the rhythm is off because the first two items are preceded by adjectives but the final element is a bare noun. Introduce an adjective before that item for parallel structure: â€Å"Here come the summer movies- the usual formulaic action flicks, dumb comedies, and weak sequels.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:30 Synonyms for â€Å"Meeting†One Fell SwoopApostrophe with Plural Possessive Nouns

The period of the twentieth century during genocides than in wars The WritePass Journal

The period of the twentieth century during genocides than in wars Introduction The period of the twentieth century during genocides than in wars IntroductionReferences:Related Introduction Genocide in Rwanda, 1994 Throughout the period of the twentieth century it is believed that more people died during genocides than in wars (Helen Fein 1993:81), despite this staggering claim, the genocides have received noticeably less attention than the recent wars of the twentieth century. There exist many varied definitions of genocide, to state one; â€Å"a form of one-sided mass killing in which the state or other authority intends to destroy a group, as that group and membership in it are identified by the perpetrator† (Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn, 1990) This very similar to the UN definition also used by such agencies as Medecins Sans frontiers (Destexhe 1995), the definition included in the 1948 convention states (Article 2): ‘In the Present convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: A)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Killing members of the group; B)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; C)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; D)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Imposing measures intending to prevent births within the group; E)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.’ Furthermore as Article 1 reiterates ‘genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which [the Contracting Parties to the Convention] undertake to prevent and punish’. The UN definition of genocide highlights in Article 2 the difference between direct and indirect killings, the latter being techniques such as birth control however they both share the same aim; biological destruction of the group. In addition the UN definition for political reasons excludes mass killing, this definition continues to be up for debate for example Helen Fein (London sage: 1993) views genocide as; â€Å"sustained purposeful action by a perpetrator to physically destroy a collectivity, directly or indirectly, through interdiction of the biological and social reproduction of group members, sustained regardless of the surrender or lack of threat offered by the victim†. An exact definition of genocide had direct repercussions when investigating and treating the individuals or groups responsible, it is possible that the potentially guilty party who controlled the genocide may contest the accusation of genocide, stating the actions taken took place in self defence or even under conditions of civil war.   They may also believe that those held responsible should be tried under war crimes and not under the crime of genocide, which is described as a crime against humanity under international law (Republic of Rwanda 1995:31). Throughout this case study I intend to provide a detailed insight into the horrific Rwandan genocide during 1994. Jean Kambanda created history on 1 May, 1998 becoming the first person to ever plead guilty to the crime of genocide at an international court hearing.   Kambanda, the prime minister of the Rwandan government, not only planned but instigated the mass attacks and in turn killings in 1994.   With the logistics of the genocide overseen by Kambanda, local authorities had enough people in place to initiate the killings; those who were not willing to cooperate with the orders were simply murdered. Furthermore he commissioned an ambience of anger and paranoia, initiated violence and as a result eventually oversaw mass murder. Kambanda as a result was convicted on all six counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Kambanda’s politics during his spell in government can be described as irrational and extreme; an underlying theme to his work was exclusion of Tutsis, believing them to be evil. In order to fully comprehend the reasons behind the genocide in Rwanda, it’s important to understand the history behind it. The origins of Rwanda’s genocide can be traced back a hundred years previous, when in 1894 the King of Rwanda welcomed Gustav Adolf von Gotzen, a German count, to his court. Ten years previously at the Berlin conference Rwanda was gifted to Germany as Africa was divided amongst the European superpowers. Belgium took control of Rwanda in 1916, until 1962 when independence was gained.   The Belgians favoured the Tutsi minority (Between 8 and 14 percent of the population at the time of the genocide) granting them preferential status. The ethnic relations between the Tutsis and the Hutus (At least 85% of the population in 1999) were respectable, furthermore they were not believed to be distinct races or tribes, thus Hutu and Tutsis conflict didn’t occur often. Furthermore any tension that existed between the two ‘tribes’ was increased further and highlighted by the Belgian colonial policy.   Gerard Prunier (1997:5) believes that â€Å"Each group had an average dominant somatic type, even if not every one of its individual members conformed to it.† With the Hutu being generally a small, stocky somatic type, â€Å"a standard Bantu physical aspect†, in comparison the Tutsi were generally tall and thin. However on the flip side Gà ¼nter (1955:672-7) believes ‘there were gross exaggerations of the physical characteristics between Hutu and the taller Tutsi, with the aristocratic minority invariably being compared with the majority of farmers and servants.’ Furthermore the colonisers implemented an identity card system in 1933, this categorised every Rwandan as Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa (The latter being an aboriginal group that before the genocide in 1990 accounted for 1 percent of the population). The identity cards in question were retained during the post independence era, this providing information to the architects of the genocide, as they located their Tutsi victims and Hutu opponents. The Tutsi, who were deemed better educated and more prosperous, headed the campaign for independence after World War II. As a result the Belgians changed allegiance, now backing the Hutus. The change in allegiance let vengeful Hutu components murdered approximately 15,000 Tutsis over a three year period between 1959 and 1962, as Prunier (1997:63) states ‘ Violence in Rwanda forced many Tutsi into exile between 1959 and 1964, then again during 1972-3, amounting to approximately 600000-700000 people’. The Tutsi fled notably to Uganda and Burundi, where they formed a guerrilla organisation known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), with the aim of overturning the new regime.   This aim came to fruition in 1990, when the RPF invaded and occupied the north east of Rwanda. In August 1993 Habyarimana finally accepted an internationally-mediated peace treaty, providing the RPF with a share of political power and a military presence in Kigali. As a result the UN deployed 5,000 peacekeepers to oversee issues, referred to as UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda). However there is a school of thought that believes the Rwandan government, despite to treaty, didn’t accept the peace agreement. In addition some government’ officials and high ranked military officers had at that point designed personal ways to combat the Tutsi ‘issue’ as early as 1992. Habyarimana’s controversial decision to make peace with the RPF won others over to their side, including opposition leaders. Many believed themselves to be patriots when involved in the genocide. The above situation was referred to as the ‘Hutu power’ movement, this movement included moderate Hutu’s who opposed the genocide, which organised and supervised the genocide of April-July 1994. Additionally not only a strong sense of secrecy but a false sense of security combined to disarm the majority who were murdered during the genocide, Friedlander (1997: 60-1) described the situation pre genocide as an ‘illusion of normality’.   It is thought that a great deal of the Tutsi contingent based in Rwanda failed to anticipate the imminent genocide of 1994, despite mounting evidence that something was being planned, including periodic killings of innocent and unarmed Tutsi’s.   Covert actions were an important dimension of the Rwandan regime’s close political control, and were especially effective in a highly stratified society, where power differentials had long been taken for granted (Maquet 1961). Some high profile politicians and public figures had consistently voiced an opinion that the Tutsi ‘had it coming to them’, however references to a potential future genocide were few and far between. Firm statements of intent were rare, furthermore the rumours that indicated a potential planned genocide in fact served further to disarm the Tutsi contingent of Rwanda, by appearing to ’cry wolf’.   Had the Tutsi believed the genocide to be possible a greater number would have fled the country before April 1994 (Chretien 1995: Reyntjens 1994).   According to Clapham (1998:209), ‘groups who sought a genocidal solution’ used the period of the Arusha negotiations to prepare for the genocide, and had no intention of agreeing with the terms of any settlement. Ambiguity was deliberately cultivated during preparation for the genocide, and even during its implementation. April 6th 1994, the day that is widely thought to have triggered the holocaust in Rwanda. Presidents Habyarimana was assassinated when his plane was shot down from the sky by a surface to air missile as the plane approached Kigali airport. Although responsibility for the assassination has never been resolved, many believe that the Hutu extremists had opted to remove their president, who had previously allowed the Tutsi back into government, and initiate a ‘solution’ to the Tutsi ‘problem’. This is thought due to the speed with which the genocide was effectively launched. Within 24 hours of the president’s plane being shot down, roadblocks sprang up around the Kigali. The interahamwe ( â€Å"those who help one another†) militia controlled these roadblocks. In addition to this the Tutsi were segregated and hacked to death with machetes at roadside, however because of the perceived physical differences between the two ‘racial’ groups many taller Hutus were also killed. Furthermore death squads were established and given targets, both Tutsi and moderate Hutu, including the prime minister Agate Uwilingiyimana. The genocide quickly expanded from the capital city to more rural areas. The official sanction to kill originated from government state, but the killings were also conducted by normal people and quickly established militia’s, the astounding issue here is why were the population of Rwanda so determined to kill. Prunier (1997:140-1) proposed the ideal of the manipulation of certain group identities; â€Å"In a world where illiteracy is still the rule, where most of the population has horizons which are limited to their parochial world, where ideologies are bizarre foreign gadgets reserved for intellectuals, solidarity is best understood in terms of close community. In turn, these positive (or negative) group feelings are manipulated by the elite in their struggles for controlling the scarce and even shrinking financial, cultural and political resources.† However the reason could lie in the culture of Rwanda, a culture that embodies obedience to authority. The incursions and attacks of the PRF prior to the genocide made the Hutu’s perceive every Tutsi as a threat even more so. It is estimated that in just two weeks after the start of the genocide, approximately a quarter of a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus had been murdered.   Alongside the mass murder of Soviet prisoners of war during World War II, it is thought to be the most concentrated act of genocide ever; â€Å" The dead of Rwanda accumulated at nearly three times the rate of Jewish dead during the Holocaust.† (Gourevitch 1998:3), however Prunier (1997:261)believes the killings happened at an ever faster rate; â€Å" The daily killing rate was at least five times that of the Nazi death camps.† On a slightly more specific note, the gender aspects of the brutal killings is one of the least investigated factors of the Rwandan genocide. Judy El-Bushra states: â€Å"During the war of 1994, and particularly as a result of the genocide massacres which precipitated it, it was principally the men of the targeted populations who lost their lives or fled to other countries in fear. This targeting of men for slaughter was not confined to adults: boys were similarly decimated, raising the possibility that the demographic imbalance will continue for generations. Large numbers of women also lost their lives; however, mutilation and rape were the principal strategies used against women, and these did not necessarily result in death.† (El-Bushra, 200:73). This trend can be seen throughout the early 1990’s when Tutsi males were murdered as they were presumed to be part of the RPF organisation. ‘Throughout the genocide orders to kill were passed down from the top, and the majority who refused to kill were often killed’ (Gourevitch 1997:44-51), an example of this can be seen when the prefect of Butare refused to order Hutu to murder the Tutsis, he was killed and replaced by militia’s from the north (Prunier 1995:261; Article 19 1996:57). As a result all social ties were abolished,   leaving a situation where ‘pupils were killed by their teachers, shop owners by their customers, neighbour killed neighbour and husband killed wives in order to save them from a more terrible death’ ( Destexhe 1995:31). The Hutu used physical features as a guide during the genocide, such as a ‘long nose, long fingers or height (were) considered a sufficient basis for a sentence of death’   (African rights 1996:45), however as Clapham (1998:197) states ‘the blurred vision between the two ‘ethnic groups’ could not be taken as a re liable identity indicator’. On the topic Prunier (1995: 198,142) states that ‘Chopping up men was â€Å"bush clearing† and slaughtering women and children was â€Å"pulling out the roots of the bad weeds†Ã¢â‚¬â„¢. As mentioned above the Tutsis and moderate Hutu males were almost exclusively targeted prior the genocide and in fact in its early stages, however there exist strong evidence that between April and June 1994 the gendering of the genocide altered, with more women and children being murdered in the later stages. Alison Des Forges in a 1999 report on the genocide wrote; â€Å"In the past Rwandans had not usually killed women in conflicts and at the beginning of the genocide assailants often spared them. When militia had wanted to kill women during an attack in Kigali in late April, for example, Renzaho [a principal leader of the genocide] had intervened to stop it. Killers in Gikongoro told a woman that she was safe because Sex has no ethnic group. The number of attacks against women [from mid-May onwards], all at about the same time, indicates that a decision to kill women had been made at the national level and was being implemented in local communities. (See Human Rights Watch, Mid- May Slaughter: Women and Children as Victims, in Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda.) As briefly discussed the Tutsi formed an organisation called the RPF, as soon as the genocide erupted the RPF launched an attack on Kigali.   As a result the government resistance was destroyed; this eventually brought an end to the genocide in many areas of the country.   On July 4 1994, Kigali fell to the RPF and in turn the genocide came to an end on July 18th. It is difficult to establish an accurate death toll for the genocide, a figure of 800,000 is generally accepted, although this remains unclear. This figure provided by the Human Rights Watch and is based upon a 1991 census, thus not taking into account the number of other victims of the genocide.   However Philippe Gaillard estimates that up to one million people were killed, this confirmed by Charles Petrie, the deputy co-ordinator of the UN Rwanda Emergency Office.   Additionally in a preliminary report published by the Rwanda Military of Local Government in December 2001, the figure of just over one million casualties is cited, based on a census in July 2000. The report states that 93.7% of the victims being killed because they were Tutsi; 1% because they had some form of relations with Tutsis; 0.8% because they looked like Tutsis; and 0.8% because they opposed the Hutu movement. Furthermore young people were particularly targeted, as 53.7% of the victims were between 0 and 24 years of age. Furthermore the strategy behind the Rwandan genocide was created and implemented by a small contingent of government officials, led by Bagosora, a Hutu extremist.   Bagosora, a retired army colonel, held the position of defence minister at the time of Habyarimana’s assassination. Agathe Habyarimana, the wife of the former president, Bagosora acted quickly in not only organising the genocide but rallying government support. These leaders exploited the highly-centralized nature of the Rwandan state, The genocide happened not because the state was weak, but on the contrary because it was so totalitarian and strong that it had the capacity to make its subjects obey absolutely any order, including one of mass slaughter. (Prunier1995:353-54.). Reyntjens (1996:244-5) believed the ‘Rwandan peoples tendency for obedient compliance, aided in facilitating the ruthless efficiency of the 1994 genocide’. There can exist no simple explanation to the genocide, a numbers of caus es may have aided in contribution, such as; colonial ideology of racial division (identity cards, preferential status to Tutsi then change of allegiance); political and economic struggles prior 1994; the nature of their organised society; and finally the fragile regional and class base of a political fraction determined to retain state power at any cost, which perhaps resulted in the mass killings To conclude I believe I have provided an extensive background to the genocide in Rwanda, which is crucial when aiming to understand to reasons behind the genocide leaving approximately one million dead. Furthermore I have provided an overview of surrounding factors that contributed to the violence and a detailed account of the genocide. References: Melvern ,Linda, (2004), Conspiracy To Murder The Rwandan Genocide, Verso African Rights. (1995). Rwanda: Death, Despair, and Defiance. Revised edition. 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