Rwanda: Lessons Observed. Lessons Learned?

Abstract

In seeking to determine whether and in what way the experience in Rwanda may have changed peacekeeping, this article examines three official international institutional reports that were issued after the genocide in Rwanda. Their discussion of United Nations peacekeeping after Rwanda, each from a slightly different vantage point, provides a window into the thinking of the time as to what changes should occur in peacekeeping as a result of the Rwanda experience. Two reports focused on the future of peacekeeping more generally, the Brahimi Report, published in 2000, and the hippo Report, published in 2015 are used as benchmarks to determine whether and to what extent those proposed changes occurred. The article argues that while many changes in peacekeeping can be identified since 1994, peacekeeping remains unchanged at its core in that it is still based on the foundational principles of consent, impartiality and minimal use of force.