In many countries and many periods a person’s ethnic identity has had profound consequences for his or her physical safety, political status, and economic prospects. Violent confrontation along ethnic lines is the most apparent form of ethnic conflict, and it recently has claimed lives in such diverse places throughout the world. The three most terrible ethnic conflicts have been the conflict in Rwanda, in former Yugoslavia, and The Holocaust during World War II in Europe.
Rwanda is an African country well known for its mountain scenery and wildlife, but also a country that lived a very sad episode for its population. The population of Rwanda has historically been divided into two ethnic groups: the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority. Different factors such as economic crisis and the exile of much of the Tutsi population led this group to live at a disadvantage in their own country. In 1994, the Hutu army was trained and equipped to exterminate the Tutsi population. No one knows the exact number of victims, however it is estimated that the death total is between 500,000 and 1,000,000[1]. The consequences of the Genocide still affect the country, because part of its population was kids that lived and remember the tragedy. Therefore, nobody can say that the conflict in Rwanda is over.
When Croatia and Slovenia declared their independency from the Federation of Yugoslavia in 1991, a series of changes began in these territories. Later, Macedonia and Bosnia Herzegovina declared their independence as well. These changes produced several wars characterized by ethnic conflicts between the ex Yugoslavian countries, for example, Serbs on one side, and Croats, Bosnian and Albanian on the other. The conflicts happened due to political, economic, cultural and ethnic causes. In the case of Bosnia, the ethnic composition was very heterogeneous and none of the ethnic groups wanted to be governed by a different group because they don’t want to be discriminated. In the end, the wars in the old Yugoslavia let poverty, economic instability and more than 300.000 deaths.
The Holocaust is an event that happened during the Second World War, specifically between 1939 and 1941, when Adolf Hitler tried to take control of Europe. Hitler considered that Germans were a superior race and started killing the Jewish population of Europe in order to remove it completely. Jewish people were forced to live in concentration camps, where they were tortured and humiliated, and later shot, hanged, poisoned in gas chambers or burnt in crematory ovens. Sadly, the holocaust ended with more than 6.000.000[2] Jews and Europeans of other nationalities (such as Gypsies, Soviets, ethnic Poles and Slavs) dead.
Ethnic conflicts such as in Rwanda, former Yugoslavia, and The Holocaust during World War II triggered the worst feelings a human being can have. Any country or society can go through such terrors. Different religion, race, and beliefs are not good reasons to kill each other. It depends on new generations not to repeat the terrible crimes again.
[1] Herrero, José Luis (junio-julio 2005). «¿El final de la gran guerra africana?». FP, Foreign Policy edición española nº 9,. Madrid: FRIDE. Consultado el 12/04/2010
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