Security
by Kyle Matthews and Roméo Dallaire
Lethal ripple effects
of mass atrocities Mobilizing the will to intervene
More than fifteen years after the appalling slaughter of
the Rwandan Genocide, in which no less than 800,000 innocent
civilians lost their lives, governments the world over have still
not developed national strategies for the prevention of mass
atrocity crimes. Decision makers continue to cling to an out-
dated and traditional view of the national interest that relegates
the prevention of mass atrocities as a secondary foreign policy
priority.
The international community, which is code word for the
collection of national governments seated in the General As-
sembly at the United Nations in New York, failed at stopping
the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. National governments were
not forthcoming in providing the UN with the tools, resources
and political support required to arrest that genocide once it had
begun. As a result, unnecessary human suffering in the Great
Lakes region of Africa continues unabated to this day, which
has destabilized an area geographically larger than continental
Western Europe and set in motion a dangerous domino effect
that transforms developing countries into failed states.
The same process can now be observed emanating out of Su-
dan’s Darfur region, where mass atrocities since 2003 have acted
as a trip wire to regional chaos, pulling Chad and the Central
African Republic into an unnecessary downward spiral.
The lessons learned from the Rwandan Genocide created a
momentum in the 1990s for legitimate humanitarian interven-
16 Vanguard / November/December 2009
Rwanda genocide
survivor lights
memorial candle.
Photo:
Mark Garten, UN
tion to prevent mass atrocities. Encoded in the Responsibility
to Protect principles, a concept of sovereignty that obligates
all states to protect their citizens was advanced. The emerging
norm stipulates that if a state is unable or unwilling to protect
its own people from gross human rights violations, then the
international community has a responsibility to engage and fill
the protection void. The use of military force is permitted as a
last resort and only in instances when all soft power strategies
have been exhausted.
While the UN General Assembly members, including Canada,
endorsed the Responsibility to Protect principles at the 2005
World Summit, rhetoric supporting action remains more preva-
lent than action itself.
As a result of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, preventing mass atroci-
ties has been subjugated to the margins of international security
policy. An unfortunate consequence of the international focus
on Afghanistan is the corresponding failure to consider the
international effects of predatory violence directed at civilians
in Africa. Sustained and well-planned strategies are needed to
end the worst conflicts on that continent, particularly in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo.
That pre-9/11 momentum for humanitarian intervention now
needs to be rebuilt, painstakingly and carefully, with national
governments taking the lead. Canada can and must do more to
prevent future Rwandas.

Strategic imperative
Mass atrocity crimes – genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes
and crimes against humanity – are too prevalent in our modern
age to warrant outright dismissal as unfortunate occurrences
that are irregular and impossible to anticipate. In the 21st cen-
tury, the combined impact of poverty and inequality, rapid
demographic growth, nationalism, and climate change will drive
the kind of deadly violence that will not only threaten interna-
tional peace and security, but will also affect Canada’s domestic
security and economic prosperity as well.
In today’s unstable and interdependent global environment,
the traditional national interest approach to foreign policy is
no longer effective.
Why must Canada and its citizens re-engage in creating do-
mestic political will to prevent mass atrocities? Besides the obvi-
ous moral imperative and the legal obligation of national gov-
ernments to respond to situations when intelligence indicates
something sinister is unfolding, there are also many far-reaching
consequences that ultimately will affect Canadian society in a
negative manner. We are now only beginning to understand how
truly interconnected our world is through globalization.
Mobilizing the Will to Intervene: Leadership and Action to Pre-
vent Mass Atrocities, the report issued by the Will to Intervene
Project at the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human
Rights Studies, lays out in meticulous detail why preventing
mass atrocities should concern our policy elites. The report
urges elected officials and high-level government officials to
adopt a concept of the national interest that incorporates the
notion that preventing genocide and mass atrocities serves the
interests of Canada and not doing so puts the welfare of Cana-
dian citizens at risk.
First, mass atrocities pose a serious risk to our public health.
Deadly violence unleashed against civilians’ generates internal
and external displacement, destroys critical health infrastruc-
ture, spreads AIDS through rape as a weapon of war, and halts
inoculation and vaccination programs, thereby creating the
ideal conditions for infectious diseases to immerge. In addi-
tion, those who are forced to flee genocidal violence often have
no choice but to seek shelter and protection in overcrowded
and unsanitary refugee camps. These sites become breeding
grounds for disease outbreaks that sow the seeds for future
global pandemics.
Second, mass atrocities generate serious security threats over
time. Security challenges now include a wider variety of inter-
Security
national and transnational threats
affecting states and their citizens.
There is widespread recognition
that geographically isolated coun-
tries, if allowed to fall into disarray
through the self-immolation process
that mass atrocities tend to gener-
Food distribution ate, will come back to haunt us as
to Rwandan children. failed states. Failed states become
Photo: John Isaac , UN ungovernable spaces that, rather
than contributing to regional peace
and stability, morph into transnational challenges of the first
order. Witness the operational havens they become for ter-
rorist groups, as exemplified by pre-2001 Afghanistan. The
recent emergence of large-scale piracy surrounding the shores
of Somalia, where Canada has deployed its naval forces under
a NATO-led operation, is another recent example. States that
will not or cannot stop mass atrocities will eventually become
the kind of states that will not or cannot prevent territory from
being used as a base for terrorism, human trafficking, drug and
arms smuggling, and other serious threats.
Third, as a result of the growing multi-cultural makeup of the
Canadian population combined with present day communica-
tion technologies that allow for news and images of real time
human suffering to be relayed across the world in a matter of
seconds, mass atrocities occurring in far away countries can
undermine the foundations of political stability and social
cohesion in Canada. The recent conflict in Sri Lanka is a case in
point. In March 2009, more than 120,000 members of the Sri
Lankan Tamil diaspora in Toronto protested against the policies
of the Sri Lankan government towards the Tamil minority. Their
protest demonstrations paralyzed downtown Toronto, as they
demanded that Canada pressure the Sri Lankan government to
halt its military operations against the Tamil Tigers so that civil-
ians could be allowed to escape from the conflict zone. In May
2009, this group sustained protests on Parliament Hill for weeks,
and shut down a major highway in downtown Toronto.
New tools, new era
Not all is lost. Even middle powers like Canada can play a
constructive role in shaping and creating the future world that
we aspire to live in. As the Will to Intervene Project report pro-
poses, policies need to be implemented to enhance government
coordination and build soft and hard power capacity. These
recommendations provide a framework for action that is both
pragmatic and strategic. Small structural changes can have a real
cumulative effect in harnessing all elements of Canada’s national
power more effectively to prevent future genocides.
In the domain of improving internal government coordina-
tion, the creation of an interdepartmental Coordinating Office
for the Prevention of Mass Atrocities would encourage Canadian
civil servants to channel intelligence to key decision makers and
permit the identification of who is responsible for decisions in
a timely manner. This would replace the ad hoc and temporary
inter-departmental task force model. The creation of a perma-
nent structure should also be accompanied by the establishment
November/December 2009 / Vanguard 17
 Security
of standard operating procedures for disseminating intelligence
concerning the risks of mass atrocities throughout the whole of
government. At present, there are no established governmental
processes or mechanisms in Ottawa designed for preventing
and responding to genocide. Addressing this would help in
overcoming competing departmental interests and cultures, as
well as enable Canada to better employ the diverse competencies
of the civil service.
Robust civilian and military capacities, which that are field
deployable and sustainable, are essential to preventing future
genocides. However, the ongoing Canadian engagement in
Afghanistan has depleted much of the country’s diplomatic,
development and military resources. The strategic establish-
ment of a Canadian Prevention Corps would create a permanent
civilian standby team based in Ottawa for preventive action. A
critical mass of multidisciplinary experts could be drawn from
federal agencies and departments to work with high-level spe-
cial envoys for preventive diplomacy and fact-finding missions.
This critical investment would augment Canada’s diplomatic
capacity to monitor countries for early warning signs such as
hate propaganda, suspicious arms shipments, political extrem-
ism, exclusivist nationalism and state discrimination on ethnic,
religious, political or gender grounds. In addition, this initiative
should be accompanied by an increase in Canada’s diplomatic
and development presence in fragile countries.
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18 Vanguard / November/December 2009
On the hard power side, there is a need to continue enhancing
the Canadian Forces’ capabilities by increasing its force strength
and developing operational concepts, doctrine, force structure,
and training to support civilian protection and engage in the
complex scenarios of counter-insurgency as the centre of a spec-
trum of intellectually based use of force versus pure experiential
and immediate use in extended self-defense situations.
The continued development of an officer corps, nurtured and
matured within an inter-disciplinary set of skills that permit
pro-active engagement in conflict resolution without immedi-
ate reverting to the use of force, will provide a more flexible and
innovative protection force. Education in the arts and sciences
of anthropology, sociology and philosophy will provide depth
of knowledge to complete the warrior skills of our field com-
manders and leaders. By addressing the size of the military, its
rapid deployment capacity, and operational effectiveness in
complex and dangerous environments, Canada will be better
positioned to assume a greater leadership role in civilian protec-
tion operations.
These vital steps will transform the short-term political calcu-
lations that today characterize Canada’s response to mass atroci-
ties and begin a long-term policy shift in favor of preventive
action. If we chose not to move towards the path of prevention,
we will make little progress toward solving the recurring global
problems of mass atrocities and their lethal ripple effects.
The upcoming challenge
Consensus is forming that Canada can play a leadership role
by revising outdated policies, developing new approaches and
increasing national capacities to prevent mass atrocities. Canada
needs to redefine its national interests more broadly, not only to
help states from going over the abyss of self-destruction, but also
to help and protect Canadians. Our stake in international and
domestic security has converged with our stake in humanitarian
principles as never before.
As one of the world’s leading democratic and pluralistic so-
cieties, Canada has a responsibility and a national interest in
putting the issue of genocide and mass atrocity prevention at the
forefront of its international security and foreign policy agendas.
Our borders cannot be sealed hermetically from the transna-
tional chaos mass atrocities produce. Indifference threatens
Canada’s public health, domestic security, economic prosperity
and social cohesion in the long term.
Kyle Matthews is the lead
researcher for the Will to
Intervene Project at the
Montreal Institute for Geno-
cide and Human Rights
Studies, Concordia Univer-
sity. Previously, he worked
for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
LGen Roméo Dallaire commanded the United Nations Assistance
Mission for Rwanda in 1994. He was appointed to the Senate in
2005 and serves as member of the Senate Standing Committee on
Human Rights.