Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 11/2004

Giving Meaning to “Never Again”: Seeking an Effective Response to the Crisis in Darfur and Beyond

Cheryl Igiri, Princeton M. Lyman

September 2004

Council on Foreign Relations

Abstract

Ten years after the Rwandan genocide, the tragically slow global response to Darfur shows that the international community still lacks the capacity to deal effectively with humanitarian crises, says a new Council Special Report on Darfur. "The crisis in Darfur reveals that despite all the promises since Rwanda that such a catastrophe would not be allowed to happen again, the international community still lacks the institutions, procedures, and often the political unity necessary to respond in a timely way." The report also calls for urgent deployment of international forces to guard refugee camps, stating that "peacekeepers in the region can best be used to guard the camps of the displaced, and in the context of a political agreement, provide security for the repatriation of displaced villagers."

Written by Cheryl O. Igiri and Princeton N. Lyman of the Council on Foreign Relations, the report, Giving Meaning to "Never Again": Seeking an Effective Response to the Crisis in Darfur and Beyond, looks at Darfur in the context of lessons learned from Rwanda, and recommends how to end this crisis and avoid future ones.