Genocide

Darfur. It has been called the first genocide of the twenty first century. A brutal massacre led by the Sudanese government, through the Janjaweed. While the world has more or less stood by 400,000 civilians have been slaughtered, and 2.5 million have been forced from their homes. It's Rawanda all over again, but this time it's taking place on a larger scale. Darfur, the area in turmoil, is roughly the size of the entire country of France. But more importantly, while Rawanda went on for about a hundred days, Darfur has been happening for years.
While it is true that individuals have learned from past mistakes, governments themselves seem to remain blind. What we saw with Rawanda, we see again with Darfur. Governments and important officials who could end the bloodshed turn a blind eye. Meanwhile the UN sits debating and rewriting the definition of genocide over and over again. All the while, innocents, from terrified women, to sobbing children are murdered. However, grass roots movements sprang up and defended these forgotten people. After a while, even the world on a larger scale began to at least acknowledge what was going on. Stopped bothering to deny the fires, refuges, rapes, bodies. They even, slowly, considered considering doing something about it.
Of course none of this would have ever been necessary if it weren't for the Sudanese government. If the body of people endowed with power hadn't felt it was necessary to turn on their subjects. Honestly, that is the most disturbing thing of all. The people who were supposed to protect the innocents of Darfur instead fund the murderers who cause the destruction. At the heart of the problem, lies a small group of people who are cold hearted enough to inflict death upon a group of people who has no one else to protect them. While it is horrible to watch and stand by, it is ultimately up to the people doing the killing to put a stop to it.