Best known for having served as the Force Commander for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda, Lieutenant General Roméo Dallaire, a Canadian senator, humanitarian and author addressed his work in Rwanda as well as his continued efforts to fight genocide on Friday, Feb. 10 in Albright Auditorium.
As Force Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda in 1993, his mission was to enforce a peace treaty that had recently been completed, supervising the implementations detailed in the document. Dallaire alerted the United Nations of the impending genocide in which 800,000 people were killed over the course of 100 days.
Following his time in Rwanda, Dallaire was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and has since worked to raise awareness for veteran health. He is the author of "Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda" and is awaiting the publication of a second book about the use of child soldiers.
In 2000, Dallaire retired from the Canadian army, and began work as a special adviser to the Canadian minister responsible for Canadian International Development Agency, focusing on war affected children and the non-proliferation of small arms. He has also served as a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where he began to avidly pursue research on conflict resolution and the use of child soldiers. In March of 2005, Dallaire was appointed to the Canadian Senate, where he currently represents the province of Quebec.