Romeo Dallaire
Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire is a notable figure in Canadian military history, best known for his command of the United Nations peacekeeping forces during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Born on June 25, 1946, in the Netherlands and immigrating to Canada as an infant, Dallaire joined the Canadian military and advanced to the rank of brigadier general by 1989. His harrowing experiences in Rwanda, where he oversaw a contingent of troops during a catastrophic civil war that resulted in an estimated 800,000 deaths, profoundly impacted him, leading to struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after the conflict.
Dallaire has since become a prominent advocate for human rights and conflict resolution, emphasizing the importance of empowering women and educating children in post-conflict societies. He served as a Canadian senator from 2005 until 2014, focusing on international development initiatives. His literary contributions include the award-winning book "Shake Hands with the Devil" and subsequent works that address the issues of child soldiers and his personal battles with PTSD. Dallaire has received numerous accolades for his humanitarian efforts, including being named an Officer of the Order of Canada and being inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2023. His ongoing commitment to preventing genocide and addressing human rights abuses reflects his dedication to advocating for a more just and compassionate world.
Subject Terms
Romeo Dallaire
Statesman
- Born: June 25, 1946
- Place of Birth: Denekamp, Netherlands
Contribution: Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, a former Canadian senator, commanded the Canadian contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping forces during the 1994 civil war in the African nation of Rwanda. His book, Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda (2005), which details his experiences with the Rwandan genocide of 1994, received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction and was adapted into a movie in 2007.
Early Life
Roméo Antonius Dallaire was born on June 25, 1946, in Denekamp, Netherlands. He immigrated to Canada as an infant. Following in his father’s footsteps, he joined the Canadian military in 1964, rising to the rank of brigadier general by 1989. In 1994, he became commander to twenty-six hundred troops of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR). Their task was to enforce a peace treaty between Rwanda’s warring Hutu and Tutsi ethnic sects.
Genocide in Rwanda
In April 1994, the Rwandan and Burundian presidents, both Hutus, were killed when the plane in which they were traveling was shot down. The Hutus of Rwanda blamed the Tutsis for this act, and thus began a bloody genocide that cost the lives of an estimated eight hundred thousand Rwandan civilians.
As Dallaire later reported, he repeatedly begged the United Nations for additional troops to step in and save lives but was ordered by the international body’s secretary general, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to withdraw the peacekeeping force. As a result, the Canadian general was not able to do much more than watch in horror as Rwandans committed atrocities against one another.
PTSD and Aftermath
The experience sank Dallaire into a depression so deep that in the years afterward he tried to kill himself. In 1999, he started receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after police found him on an Ottawa park bench nearly comatose from a mixture of antidepressants and alcohol.
After receiving a medical discharge from the army, Dallaire became a sought-after expert on human rights and conflict resolution. He has said that the key to resolving difficult societal problems in places such as Rwanda is the empowerment of women and the education of children. This philosophy partly results from his research at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government about the subject of child soldiers.
Later Life and Awards
Dallaire’s experiences left him with severe PTSD, and he spoke and wrote extensively about the condition and about his subsequent battle to regain a normal and productive life. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2002 and Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec in 2005, and he received the United Nations Association of Canada’s Pearson Peace Medal in 2005. Dallaire was granted honorary doctorates from several North American universities for his work in furthering human rights.
In March 2005, Dallaire began serving as a Canadian senator representing the Liberal Party. He championed the goal of international development, particularly the idea of investing Canadian dollars in providing educators and entrepreneurs to help developing nations foster youth programs and encourage higher education. He retired from politics in 2014, resigning to devote more time to humanitarian work. He worked with the United Nations Secretary-General of efforts to prevent genocide and on addressing crimes against humanity with the International Human Rights Commission.
He was one of eight Olympic flag bearers at the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in Vancouver. That same year, he published his second book, They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children, which highlights his quest to eradicate the use of children as soldiers in Africa. A documentary based on the book was released in 2012. Other books followed. He documented his struggles in the 2016 memoir Waiting for First Light: My Ongoing Battle with PTSD, cowritten with Jessica Dee Humphreys. The Peace: A Warrior's Journey, also cowritten with Humphreys, was published in 2024.
In 2021, Dallaire was honored by Canada's Walk of Fame for his humanitarian work. The ceremony was held in 2023 in his hometown of East Montreal.
Bibliography
Bonikowsky, Laura Neilson. "Roméo Dallaire." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 20 Dec. 2021, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/romeo-dallaire. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.
Dallaire, Roméo. Interview by Elizabeth Dickinson. “Interview: Lt. Gen. Roméo Dallaire.” Foreign Policy. The Foreign Policy Group, 21 Sept. 2009. Web. 15 Aug. 2013.
Dallaire, Roméo. “Interview: Roméo Dallaire.” Frontline. PBS, 1 Apr. 2004. Web. 15 Aug. 2013.
Dallaire, Roméo. The Peace: A Warrior's Journey. Random House Canada, 2024.
Dallaire Roméo, and Brent Beardsley. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda. New York: Carroll, 2005. Print.
Dallaire, Roméo, Jessica Dee Humphreys, and Ishmael Beah. They Fight Like Soldiers, They Die Like Children: The Global Quest to Eradicate the Use of Child Soldiers. New York: Walker, 2010. Print.
“Indepth: Romeo Dallaire.” CBC News Online. CBC, 9 Mar. 2005. Web. 15 Aug. 2013.
Jelowicki, Amanda. "'He Is a Role Model': Retired General Roméo Dallaire Honoured for Humanitarian Work." Global News, 28 July 2023, globalnews.ca/news/9861394/romeo-dallaire-canadas-walk-of-fame-montreal/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2024.
Moscoe, Adam. “Roméo Dallaire’s Fight to Make Child Soldiers an Oxymoron.” Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc., 16 May 2013. Web. 15 Aug. 2013.
“Roméo Dallaire.” Parliament of Canada. The Senate of Canada, n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2013.