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Ridell, Jennifer. Addressing Crimes Against International Law: Rwanda’s Gacaca in Practice

Rwanda experienced horrific genocide in 1994. In its aftermath, national and international trials were established but these trials failed to deal expeditiously with the large numbers of suspects awaiting trial. To combat this, Rwanda introduced an innovative participative justice mechanism, Gacaca. Modern Gacaca is based on a traditional Rwandan restorative justice mechanism of the same name. Its rooting in Rwanda's history makes Gacaca a much more acceptable form of justice to the Rwandan people than international trials given the international community's abandonment of Rwanda during the genocide. While Gacaca falls short of many international fair trial standards it remains Rwanda’s best hope as a wholly Rwandan process. But, Gacaca is more than just a judicial instrument, it has restorative justice at its origin and seeks, as its ultimate aim, to reconcile Rwanda’s divided communities. To reach this aim, Gacaca has several other objectives including discovering the truth of what happened in 1994, ending impunity which has plagued Rwanda since independence and allowing the Rwandan population to participate in the search for justice at a local level. This thesis studies the importance of these aims to Gacaca and whether the Gacaca courts are meeting their optimistic objectives in order to evaluate whether Gacaca is succeeding in Rwanda. Research was conducted through interviews throughout Rwanda and much civil society research was studied as well as material discussing the objectives from a more conceptual perspective. Gacaca's potential is outstanding and its objectives all play a very important role which, if met, will secure a much more stable future for Rwanda. In practice, however, these objectives are not being met. The population is not actively participating in the trials thus the truth is not aired. Moreover, the perception of victor's justice hampers the ability of Gacaca to end impunity in Rwanda.

Borland, Rosilyne M. The Gacaca Tribunals and Rwanda after Genocide: Effective Restorative Community Justice or Further Abuse of Human Rights?

The genocide in Rwanda in the spring of 1994 was one of the world’s most horrific acts of collective violence. National and international attempts to deal with suspected perpetrators of the genocide have not fulfilled expectations, remarks Rosilyne Borland. The national legal system of Rwanda, she also states, has failed to administer justice adequately. In response to all of this, and as pressure increases to address the past and process the thousands still in prison, the Rwandan government has devised an alternative justice mechanism. It is called gacaca. Some claim that gacaca is bringing healing and reconciliation to Rwanda. Others warn that it makes possible further human rights abuses. With all of this in view, Borland analyzes the gacaca law, its early implementation, and relevant justice theories (especially restorative justice and community justice theories). Her aim is to examine whether Rwanda is succeeding in achieving justice after the genocide of 1994.

Wierzynska, Aneta. Consolidating democracy through transitional justice: Rwanda’s Gacaca courts

This Note asserts that the key to preventing reversion to violence in postconflict societies lies in the development of a civic culture among the citizenry. Civic culture is understood as the social internalization of democratic practices, which include political participation and public contestation. Accordingly, the field of transitional justice should include mechanisms that engage the members of postconflict societies directly in processes engendering civic behavior. To illustrate the foregoing thesis, this Note examines Rwanda’s traditional, community-based restorative justice institution —Gacaca—and demonstrates how it helps to promote participation and contestation. First, the Gacaca process encourages the Rwandese people to voice their concerns openly and to begin to question authority, thereby weakening the authoritarian government’s monopoly on power. Second, the Gacaca process channels the people’s discord through a peaceful dispute-resolution process rather than through violence, thus demonstrating the potential for democratic contestation to serve as an alternative to violent conflict. Author's abstract.

Connolly, Shannon. Gacaca: ADR as a Response to Rwanda Genocide

From April 1994 to June 1994 terror reigned throughout the tiny country of Rwanda, Africa. During those 100 days, approximately 1 million minority Tutsi were summarily massacred by the dominant Hutus in the Rwandan genocide. How does a country begin to recover from such a violent, devastating event? Shannon Connolly, of the Conflict Resolution Program (CRP), interviewed Ms. Ellen Yamshon about an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, known as Gacaca, that is being implemented to address the crimes that occurred during the Rwandan genocide. (Author's Abstract)

Yeomans, Peter and Niyongabo, Adrien. "I Still Believe There is Good in All People": An Evaluation of the Alternatives to Violence Project in Rwanda

"The Alternative to Violence Project (AVP) began in 1975, when a group of inmates near New York city asked a local Quaker group to provide them with non-violence training. Highly experiential in nature, the workshop encourages participants to recognize that they can best find their own answers to the conflicts they encounter. A three-day workshop focuses on the following themes: Affirmation of ourselves and others, Co-operation, Community skills, Communication, and Conflict resolution....With my almost two years involvement in AVP as facilitator, I have been discovering, for myself how the program is capable of guiding one in his inner change especially in time of conflicts. Sitting beside and listening to those who shared during the interview, that fact brought more light and excitement to my commitment to AVP. The deep transformations that occurred in people's minds and hearts were revealed through out their ways of thinking, acting and believing as they expressed themselves. They were eager to testify to how many people have greatly benefited from a humble and simple program such as AVP, carried by dedicated facilitators. A few readers of the report may feel that some of the quotes were to please the interviewers but it should be known that there were many more emotions that can not be put on the paper but which further convinced me of the truthfulness of the stories." (excerpt)

Brounéus, Karen. Truth-Telling as Talking Cure? Insecurity and Retraumatization in the Rwandan Gacaca Courts.

This article presents unique material from in-depth interviews with 16 women in Rwanda who have testified in the gacaca, the village tribunals initiated to enhance reconciliation after the 1994 genocide. The aim of the interviews was to learn more about how testifying in such a public event as the gacaca affects psychological health. Do the women find the experience healing or retraumatizing? Are there other effects involved? There has been an assumption that testifying in truth and reconciliation commissions is a healing experience for survivors, and healing has been a central concept in the general reconciliation literature and in political rhetoric around truth commissions. However, the findings of the present study are alarming. Traumatization, ill-health, isolation, and insecurity dominate the lives of these testifying women. They are threatened and harassed before, during, and after giving testimony in the gacaca. The article provides a picture of the reconciliation process that we seldom see.(author's abstract)

Uvin, Peter and Mironko, Charles. Western and Local Approaches to Justice in Rwanda

Peter Uvin and Charles Mironko assert that Rwanda represents an important test case for the emerging international post-conflict agenda. In the wake of the worst genocide of the late twentieth century, the international community has invested massively in justice and human rights to restore peace and promote democracy and reconciliation in Rwanda. There are currently three types of efforts to deal with the perpetrators of the genocide: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; the formal domestic justice system; and gacaca. Uvin and Mironko argue that the first two Western-inspired systems of justice have proven incapable of addressing Rwanda's needs. The third system, gacaca, offers a promising alternative, but also poses risks. Thus in this article, Uvin and Mironko analyze local politics and perceptions of post-genocide justice in Rwanda, and the relationship of justice to peace, democracy, and reconciliation.

Patfoort, Pat. A reconciliation project with Ruandese Hutu and Tutsi.

According to Pat Patfoort, many Hutu and Tutsi refugees from Rwanda live in Belgium. In the late 1990s, Patfoort and others began working with a group of refugees to assist them in dealing with the enmity and violence the Hutu and Tutsi have experienced. Meeting monthly, the group consisted of a variety of Hutu and Tutsi men and women of all ages and a variety of backgrounds and education. Patfoort describes the theoretical models of conflict resolution at the foundation of this reconciliation project, and the methods used with the refugees to engage in constructive reflection and dialogue among themselves

Kirkby, Coel. Rwanda's Gacaca Courts: A Preliminary Critique.

abstract pending

Mahler, Bethany and Niyongabo, Adrien and Ntakarutimana, Florence and Mahler, Bethany. Now I Am Human: Testimonies from the healing companions program in Rwanda and Burundi

With funding from the United States Institute of Peace, the Thomas H and Mary Williams Shoemaker Fund, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Bequest Funds, the American Friends Service Committee, and individual donors plus support from the African Great Lakes Initiative's general funds, the Friends Peace House of Rwanda has held 75 Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC)workshops throughout Rwanda since 2003. To evaluate the impact of these workshops, we have interviewed 25 past participants, facilitators, friends of participants, and community members to see how HROC has touched people's lives and how it can be improved upon in the future. The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Those who were interviewed described significant changes in their lives since attending the workshop as well as the lives of those around them. From a decrease in trauma symptoms to a newfound desire to seek and grant forgiveness, participant after participant recounted personal transformations precipitated by HROC." (excerpt)

Hansen, Toran. The Gacaca Tribunals in Post-Genocide Rwanda.

Toran Hansen delves eloquently into the Gacaca tribunals in post-genocide Rwanda by first describing the history and background of the ethnic tensions that existed for decades between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority of the Rwandan people. Eventually this tension boiled over into a civil war that left up to 1 million Rwandans dead and up to 2 million displaced. As the genocide came to a close, thousands of people accused of participating in the genocide were arrested and jailed to await trial. It quickly became clear that another system needed to augment the work of the courts and ensure that the accused and the victims of the genocide got an opportunity to experience justice. The Rwandan government decided that the best option would be to blend an indigenous conflict resolution process called gacaca with the Western legal tradition. Gacaca tribunals, a grassroots community dispute resolution system, had traditionally been used as a way for community elders to resolve village conflicts, but it was modified to address the serious nature of the genocide-related cases that have been clogging up the Rwandan prisons and courts. Hansen focuses this article on how the gacaca tribunals have been modified for this purpose – including successes, criticisms, suggestions and concerns – from a modern restorative justice perspective.

Amstutz, Mark R.. "Is reconciliation possible after genocide? The case of Rwanda."

This essay explores the nature and role of the political reconciliation in reckoning with widespread regime atrocities. The role of truth is then examined in healing deeply divided societies. Because truth telling is regarded as conducive to the restoration of relationships, transitional justice scholars have claimed that the disclosure and public acknowledgment of regime offenses contributes to political reconciliation. Since reconciliation is not an inevitable byproduct of truth telling, the prudential quest to balance truth with peace and national unity is explored. (excerpt)

Goldstein-Bolocan, Maya. Rwandan Gacaca: An Experiment in Transitional Justice.

For a country trying to deal with past injustice and violence while forging a democratic present and future, many challenges, complexities, and ambiguities arise. In this context, how does a country pursue a balance between victims and their families, perpetrators of injustice and violence, and a society that wants recognition of the past as well as stability and peace? In response to the horrific genocide by many Hutus against Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the spring and early summer of 1994, Rwanda has sought this balance through administration of state-run gacaca jurisdictions or processes. According to Maya Goldstein-Bolocan, these gacaca courts blend retributive and restorative justice approaches in ways that are highly innovative in the sphere of transitional justice. Goldstein-Bolocan explores the gacaca approach with respect to transitional justice issues, thus arguing that shifting the emphasis from the retributive nature of gacaca to its restorative potential offers better prospects for peace and reconciliation in deeply wounded societies.

Drumbl, Mark A. Law and Atrocity: Settling Accounts in Rwanda.

Genocidal violence afflicted Rwanda in the spring and early summer of 1994 when extremist Hutus tried to eliminate Tutsis and moderate Hutus from the country. In trying to rebuild and reconcile in the wake of this violence, Rwanda has employed law in a prominent role in various policy mechanisms. According to Mark Drumbl, criminal trials for perpetrators of the violence are intended to pursue several goals: retribution; reconciliation; deterrence of future violence; expression of victims’ stories and perspectives; peace-building; and cultivation of a culture of human rights. Drunbl explores the extent to which trials have achieved these goals. He does so by examining the following: the history of the violence; the current state of criminal prosecutions; results of the prosecutions in terms of the stated goals; the emergence of gacaca mechanisms to deal with perpetrators of violence; and lessons learned from Rwanda’s attempt to impose law in the wake of the genocide.

Vandeginste, Stef. Victims of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Rwanda: the legal and institutional framework of their right to reparation

When a country experiences a transition from an oppressive regime or period to a more democratic and peaceful situation, questions arise as to accountability for acts of injustice and violence committed during the previous period. A variety of responses have been tried in different situations, ranging from complete amnesty to criminal prosecution proceedings. Yet all too often, Stef Vandeginste asserts, such responses have focused chiefly on establishing responsibility and accountability with respect to the perpetrators. In Vandeginstexe2x80x99s view, this is the case in Rwanda as the country continues to deal with the genocidal acts of 1994. What about the position of victims in such proceedings? This question drives Vandeginstexe2x80x99s analysis in this chapter. That is, he seeks to examine the position of Rwandan victims from a specific angle xe2x80x93 namely, their right to reparation, and the legal and institutional framework that, at least theoretically, they have at their disposal to demand the enforcement of this right. To pursue this question, he looks at the notion of reparation in general, reparations in the Rwandan context, reparations at the level of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, reparations and the Rwandan justice system, funds for reparations in Rwanda, and reparations in the context of other countries.

Tiemessen, Alana Erin. After Arusha: Gacaca Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda

The epicentre of post-genocide Rwandan society and politics has been the need for reconciliation to assuage ethnic tensions and end a culture of impunity. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has yet to meet its goal of reconciliation in Rwanda: The failure of the tribunal goes beyond its institutional shortcomings and can be attributed the norms of international criminal law that render it an inappropriate response to criminalizing mass violence. The Gacaca courts were resurrected in Rwanda as an indigenous form of restorative justice. The principles and process of these courts hope to mitigate the failures of "Arusha Justice" at the tribunal and seeks to punish or reintegrate over one hundred thousands genocide suspects. Its restorative foundations require that suspects will be tried and judged by neighbours in their community. However, the revelation that Gacaca is a reconciliatory justice does not preclude its potential for inciting ethnic tension it if purports to serve as an instrument of Tutsi power. The state-imposed approach of command justice has politicised the identity of the participants in Gacaca -- perpetrators remain Hutus and victims and survivors remain Tutsis. Additionally, the refusal of the Kagame government to allow for the prosecution of RPF crimes to be tried in Gacaca courts empowers the notion that Tutsi survival is preconditioned by Tutsi power and impunity. If Gacaca fails to end the perceptions of impunity in post-genocide Rwanda, it will come at a much higher cost for reconciliation than the failure of the ICTR. The relevance of justice after genocide speaks to the appropriateness of retributive and restorative models of justice in a post-genocide society such as Rwanda. Additionally, the model of justice must be reconciled to the nature of a political regime that imposes unity under an ethnocratic minority. Author's abstract.

Graybill, Lyn and Lanegran, Kimberly. Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation in Africa: Issues and Cases

This essay identifies a number of problematic issues concerning transitional justice and restorative justice in particular and suggests that they can be fruitfully explored through thoughtful examination of the truth-seeking projects of this issue's case countries: South Africa, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. One debate is whether political transitions genuinely require a unique type of justice or whether transitional justice results from a mere political choice which compromises justice. A second issue concerns transitional justice's goals. Related to this issue is the lack of clarity concerning the criteria for a successful transitional judicial structure. A third debate is whether truth commissions do actually bring healing and reconciliation among former enemies. Finally, there is a set of very practical concerns that need attention: what are the ideal balances between trials and truth commissions, domestic and international initiatives, efficiency and effectiveness? Authors' abstract.

Waldorf, Lars. Rwanda's failing experiment in restorative justice

Although gacaca has attracted a great deal of attention and commentary there are relatively few empirical, local-level studies of whether the gacaca is achieving its ambitious aims of justice, truth and reconciliation. While it is still too early to gauge gacaca’s success, the initial indications from those studies are not encouraging. Public confessions do not seem to lead to “reintegrative shaming.” So far, confessions have been largely limited to the detainee population and have contained little in the way of either apology or shame. Over time, gacaca has become less participatory and more coercive. There is little prospect of Tutsi genocide survivors receiving reparations through gacaca. AT the same time, the government has prohibited gacaca from providing accountability for war crimes committed by its forces against Hutu civilians. Finally, gagaca is unlikely to impose collective guilt on most Hutu. (excerpt)

A Ministry of Reconciliation: The Umuvumu Tree Project in Rwanda

With the imminent release of thousands of genocide prisoners angry over eight years of imprisonment without trial into communities still bitter over the violence and death, Prison Fellowship Rwanda, a local NGO, saw the potential for renewed violence and decided to act.