Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the violence gripping Central African Republic (Photo Credit: Matthew Alexandre/AFP/GettyImages).
By Natalia Taylor Bowdoin, Amnesty USA Country Specialist on the Central African Republic
If we were warned that a disaster, including the mass slaughter of civilians, was brewing, wouldn’t most of us want to do whatever we could to stop it? Or would we rather live with the knowledge that, despite all our promises to never see another human tragedy on a grand scale, the global community let it happen again?
That is the question before world leaders this week as the United Nations Security Council decides on intervention options in the Central African Republic (CAR), a country at the heart of Africa that has been largely ignored by the world for decades, yet a country whose people now are crying out for assistance from unconscionable acts of violence. But will the world respond this time?