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Dec. 1, 2006
Preventing violence
UBC researcher believes intervention is key.
RON FRIEDMAN
As far as Dr. Reva Adler is concerned, genocide is a public health
problem. "If you think about public health as being the science
of improving physical and psychological health, in individuals and
communities, then I can probably convince you that genocide itself
is one of the major threats to the health of populations in the
21st century," said Adler during a speech on genocide prevention
Nov. 26 at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.
Adler is a University of British Columbia researcher who for the
last 10 years has been conducting studies about the Rwandan genocide.
She has previously given lectures about her research before such
bodies as the United Nations and the American State Department.
More than 800,000 people were systematically killed in Rwanda between
April and June 1994, making genocide the number one cause of death
as well as long-term disability in sub-Saharan Africa over a decade,
far more than both AIDS and malaria combined. The targeting of Rwandan
Tutsi by Hutus resulted in a total of more than one million deaths,
with millions more wounded.
According to Adler, a health science approach focuses on preventing
genocide, rather than the current methods that merely react when
it's already too late. Adler argued that in the same way society
preventatively treats heart disease, we can try to prevent genocide.
She said the preventative method requires careful examination of
those who took part in the genocide as perpetrators. Adler's research
found that three million out of eight million people acted violently
in the Rwandan genocide.
"We are interested in whether or not you can talk to people
who have the potential to kill other people during genocide and
change their attitudes long before they do the killing," she
said.
Adler's research team talked to more than 500 people who killed
other people during the Rwanda genocide. They were trying to find
out why they had committed the acts.
One apparent reason was government manipulation. Most Hutus, especially
men, were convinced that they were under the threat of Tutsi attack
and that, in order to defend their families, property and nation,
they had to kill all the Tutsis.
In addition, fear and confusion drove many people to commit violence.
The perpetrators reported being more afraid of their own government
than of the invading Tutsis. They were afraid of the penalties for
noncompliance with the leaders, even though it was very rare for
bystanders to be punished for refusing to participate.
Greed was also an important motivating factor. People were told
that they could obtain land, livestock and goods in return for killing
the enemy.
One interesting finding referred to the behavior of adolescent males.
Young men were found to behave in patterns that corresponded to
typically rebellious teenage behavior. "Eighty per cent of
all of the youths that we interviewed had parents that were actively
trying to keep their children out of the violence and the youths
were defying their parents in a usual adolescent manner," said
Adler.
This information ties in to research being done on the prevention
of violence in different circumstances. Adler noted that adapting
techniques constructed for violence prevention in other frameworks,
such as prisons, schools and inner cities, may be helpful in building
models for prevention of genocidal outbursts. According to Adler,
training people in things like decision-making, anger management
and conflict resolution might go a long way to reducing violent
behavior.
"We are not trying to answer the question, 'Why is there evil?'
" she said. "A much easier question to answer is, 'How
do you keep regular people in society from actually responding to
the pressures and taking violent actions?' "
Adler's research is about to be published in a health science journal
and the second phase of research is already underway.
As part of its current exhibition on the Jews who were rescued by
Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust, the Vancouver Holocaust Education
Centre is dedicating a section to the prominent rescuers of the
Rwandan genocide.
Ron Friedman is a student in the master's journalism program
at UBC.
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