gacaca

justice, reconciliation and peacebuilding in post-genocide A C I R

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W W W . G L O P O I B . W O R D P R E S S . C O M introduction

This case study considers the process of However, in order to fully understand the process reconciliation and peace-building that has taken of reconciliation it is necessary to have a place in Rwanda after the genocide of 1994. It is reasonable understanding of the events of 1994. important to remember that the genocide itself is Remember, though, that in using this case study as outside the scope of the Global Politics course supporting evidence you are focusing on post- due to the requirement that the focus is on events genocide Rwanda. within students lifetimes. context

From April to July 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic Ethnically motivated violence continued in the majority in the east-central African nation of years following independence. In 1973, a military Rwanda murdered as many as 800,000 people, group installed Major General Juvenal mostly of the Tutsi minority. Begun by extreme Hutu Habyarimana, a moderate Hutu, in power. The sole nationalists in the capital of Kigali, the genocide leader of Rwandan government for the next two spread throughout the country with staggering decades, Habyarimana founded a new political speed and brutality, as ordinary citizens were party, the National Revolutionary Movement for incited by local officials and the Hutu Power Development (NRMD). He was elected president government to take up arms against their under a new constitution ratified in 1978 and neighbors. By the time the Tutsi-led Rwandese reelected in 1983 and 1988, when he was the sole Patriotic Front gained control of the country candidate. In 1990, forces of the Rwandese through a military offensive in early July, hundreds Patriotic Front (RPF), consisting mostly of Tutsi of thousands of Rwandans were dead and many refugees, invaded Rwanda from Uganda. A more displaced from their homes. The RPF victory ceasefire in these hostilities led to negotiations created 2 million more refugees (mainly Hutus) between the government and the RPF in 1992. In from Rwanda, exacerbating what had already August 1993, Habyarimana signed an agreement at become a full-blown humanitarian crisis. Arusha, Tanzania, calling for the creation of a transition government that would include the RPF. By the early 1990s, Rwanda, a small country with an This power-sharing agreement angered Hutu overwhelmingly agricultural economy, had one of extremists, who would soon take swift and horrible the highest population densities in Africa. About action to prevent it. 85 percent of its population is Hutu; the rest is Tutsi, along with a small number of Twa, a Pygmy On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana group who were the original inhabitants of and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira was Rwanda. Part of German East Africa from 1894 to shot down over Kigali, leaving no survivors. (It has 1918, Rwanda came under the League of Nations never been conclusively determined who the mandate of Belgium after World War I, along with culprits were. Some have blamed Hutu extremists, neighboring Burundi. Rwanda’s colonial period, while others blamed leaders of the RPF.) Within an during which the ruling Belgians favored the hour of the plane crash, the Presidential Guard minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated the together with members of the Rwandan armed tendency of the few to oppress the many, creating forces (FAR) and Hutu militia groups known as the a legacy of tension that exploded into violence (“Those Who Attack Together”) and even before Rwanda gained its independence. A Impuzamugambi (“Those Who Have the Same Hutu revolution in 1959 forced as many as 300,000 Goal”) set up roadblocks and barricades and Tutsis to flee the country, making them an even began slaughtering Tutsis and moderate Hutus smaller minority. By early 1961, victorious Hutus had with impunity. Among the first victims of the forced Rwanda’s Tutsi monarch into exile and genocide were the moderate Hutu Prime Minister declared the country a republic. After a U.N. Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her 10 Belgian referendum that same year, Belgium officially bodyguards, killed on April 7. This violence created granted independence to Rwanda in July 1962. a political vacuum, into which an interim

government of extremist Hutu Power leaders from troops. By the time that force arrived in full, the military high command stepped on April 9. however, thegenocide had been over for months. The mass killings in Rwanda quickly spread from In a separate French intervention approvedby the Kigali to the rest of the country, with some 800,000 U.N., French troops entered Rwanda from Zaire in people slaughtered over the next three months. late June. In the faceof the RPF’s rapid advance, During this period, local officials and government- they limited their intervention to a “humanitarian sponsored radio stations called on ordinary zone” set up in southwestern Rwanda, saving tens Rwandan civilians to murder their neighbors. of thousands of Tutsi livesbut also helping some of Meanwhile, the RPF resumed fighting, and civil war the genocide’s plotters–allies of the French raged alongside the genocide. By early July, RPF duringthe Habyarimana administration–to forces had gained control over most of country, escape.In the aftermath of the Rwandan including Kigali. In response, more than 2 million genocide, many prominent figures in the people, nearly all Hutus, fled Rwanda, crowding international community lamented theoutside into refugee camps in the Congo (then called world’s general obliviousness to the situation and Zaire) and other neighboring countries. its failure to act in order to prevent the atrocities from taking place. As former U.N.Secretary- After its victory, the RPF established a coalition General Boutros Boutros-Ghali told the PBS news government similar to that agreed upon at Arusha, program “Frontline”:“The failure of Rwanda is 10 with Pasteur Bizimungu, a Hutu, as president and times greater than the failure of , a Tutsi, as vice president and Yugoslavia.Because in Yugoslavia the international defense minister. Habyarimana’s NRMD party, community was interested, was involved.In Rwanda which had played a key role in organizing the nobody was interested.” Attempts were later made genocide, was outlawed, and a new constitution to rectify this passivity. After the RFP victory, the adopted in 2003 eliminated reference to ethnicity. UNAMIR operation was brought back up to The new constitution was followed by Kagame’s strength; it remained in Rwanda until March 1996, election to a 10-year term as Rwanda’s president as one of the largest humanitarian relief efforts in and the country’s first-ever legislative elections. history.In October 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), located in Tanzania, was established as an extension of the As in the case of atrocities committed International Criminal Tribunal for the former in the former Yugoslavia around the same time, Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague, the first the international community largely remained on international tribunal since the Nuremburg Trials of the sidelines during the . A U.N. 1945-46 and the first with the mandate to Security Council vote in April 1994 led to the prosecute the crime of genocide. withdrawal of most of a U.N. peacekeeping The trials continued over the next decade and a operation (UNAMIR) created the previous fall to half, including the 2008 conviction of three former aid with governmental transition under the Arusha senior Rwandan defense and military officials for accord. As reports of the genocide spread, the organizing the genocide. Security Council voted in mid-May to supply a more robust force, including more than 5,000 gacaca courts

The Gacaca court is a system of community justice Rwanda's economy would crumble as a massive inspired by Rwandan tradition where gacaca can amount of their population awaited trial in prison. be loosely translated to "justice amongst the For this reason they chose to adapt and create a grass". This traditional, communal justice was large-scale justice system, which would work adapted in 2001 to fit the needs of Rwanda in the alongside the International Criminal Tribunal for wake of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Using the Rwanda, in order to heal as a people and to thrive justice system Rwanda had in place, the trial of as a country. such massive numbers of alleged perpetrators would take well over 200 years during which The origins of the Gacaca system can be traced Over 12,000 Gacaca courts were established back to 17th century pre-colonial era Rwanda in across Rwanda each covering a small community which disputes were heard locally by wise or (known as a Gacaca cell. A Gacaca sector was respected men within the local village or made up a small group of cells). Essentially, community. The key aim of the Gacaca system was Gacaca sectors were considered more senior in to restore harmony in the community by the hierarchy than Gacaca cells. acknowledging and, where possible, righting Gacaca meetings were presided over by judges wrongs. However, with the arrival of the colonial known as inyangamugayo who were elected to powers and the introduction of western style legal serve on a nine-person council. systems the Gacaca system of justice fell out of widespread use. Click on the video link below to see the 15 minute documentary by Journeyman Pictures than shows After the genocide of 1994 there were proceedings during a Gacaca hearing to get a approximately 130,000 alleged perpetrators of to better understanding of exactly what took places be prosecuted. Originally, they were to be in these tribunals. prosecuted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda but the sheer numbers involved made this impractical. Additionally, lack of resources made it impossible to organise western style courts which essentially meant Gacaca tribunals were the only alternative. The goal of Gacaca courts was to:

Establish truth about what happened

Accelerate the legal proceedings for those accused of Genocide Crimes

Eradicate the culture of impunity

Reconcile Rwandans and reinforce their unity

Use the capacities of Rwandan society to deal with its problems through a justice-based Rwandan custom.

The story of François-Xavier Byuma

Human rights activist François-Xavier Byuma was The court found Byuma guilty of participating in convicted of genocide-related charges following weapons training and several other counts a gacaca trial that violated both Rwandan law (including participation in an attack and and the fundamental principle that accused abduction and assault of a Tutsi woman) which persons must be tried before a fair and impartial were not mentioned when the charges were first court. read to Byuma before trial. It sentenced him to 19 years in prison. The court acquitted two co- At the time allegations of genocide first surfaced accused of the same crimes, despite one of them against him in early 2007, Byuma headed an having admitted to being guilty of one of the organization for the defense of children’s rights charges. (Turengere Abana) and had recently started investigations into an allegation of rape of a 17- On August 18, 2007, an appeals court upheld the year-old girl by a local gacaca judge. Knowing 19-year prison sentence despite numerous that this judge would preside over his case, Byuma irregularities. Byuma had presented court records immediately wrote to the SNJG expressing concern revealing that one prosecution witness who that he may not receive a fair trial. His letter was accused him of assault had previously testified found to be “baseless and unfounded.” that a different person committed the crime (and whose name the witness never mentioned in the Byuma’s trial began in Kigali on May 13, 2007. He gacaca case). Byuma pointed out that the trial was accused of having been present at a court declined to hear some of the witnesses roadblock erected to prevent Tutsi fleeing the whom he sought to call in his defense and failed genocide, having a firearm, and participating in to reconcile contradictions in the evidence. The weapons training. At the outset of the trial, Byuma appeals court gave no justification for its decision asked to have the judges dismissed on the grounds affirming the conviction and offered no of conflict of interest, but the court declined his explanation for its failure to deal with the fact that request.In protest, Byuma refused to testify. The the presiding judge of the lower court had a clear judge threatened to charge him for his refusal to conflict of interest with Byuma. testify. Byuma decided to subject himself to the jurisdiction, despite overt hostility shown by the After a strong public outcry from local and presiding judge throughout the remainder of the international organizations, the SNJG accepted trial. Byuma’s request for revision and brought a bench of judges from the eastern part of the country to At a second hearing a week later, Byuma decide the case. The SNJG reluctantly agreed to defended himself against the charges, but the allow a lawyer to assist Byuma in his defense (as presiding judge cut off many of his answers and long as he did not wear his robe). During the those of witnesses who tried to speak in his hearing, however, the lawyer provided by Avocats defense. In one instance, the presiding judge Sans Frontières (ASF) was not permitted to sit next accused a defense witness of lying. to his client and was repeatedly denied the opportunity to question witnesses. These restrictions, coupled with the open hostility shown by the presiding judge to the lawyer’s presence, rendered his assistance ineffective.

The court deciding Byuma’s request for revision gave little consideration to additional defense witnesses who testified but concluded that new evidence had been offered by accusing witnesses, even though some of this information was inconsistent with earlier testimony given at trial and on appeal. The court also found Byuma guilty of possessing a firearm, in violation of a 2006 SNJG directive which stated that having a firearm or being at a roadblock did not in itself constitute a crime. The court upheld Byuma’s conviction but reduced his sentence to 17 years’ imprisonment.

Questions to consider: How far can Byuma's trial be said to have met accpeted norms regarding a fair trial?

What are the implications for from the perspective human rights? Justice?

Taken from https://www.hrw.org/report/2011/05/31/justice-compromised/legacy-rwandas-community-based-gacaca-courts Justice compromised The Legacy of Rwanda’s Community-Based Gacaca Courts

This report by Human Rights Watch discusses, in some detail, the legacy of the Gacaca courts in the post-genocide peacebulding process in Rwanda, providing some interesting case individual case studies as well as evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the Gacaca system. Particularly interesting is the response of the Rwandan government to the recommendations made by HRW.

Click on the link above to download a copy of the report. Video resources Click on the videos to watch

An Al-Jazeera report on the role of Gacaca courts in the Randan process of reconciliation

Let the Devil Sleep is the story of four individual's unlikely journey of confession, forgiveness and reconciliation in post-genocide Rwanda.

Professor assesses the gacaca process and considers whether it could serve as a model for other countries emerging from conflict.