Rwanda: Justice Progress after Genocide
National, International Courts Played Vital Role; Challenges Remain
MARCH 28, 2014
One of many houses marked with the word "Tutsi" stands in a deserted
village in eastern Rwanda, just a few kilometers from a church in
which more than 1,000 people were massacred by Hutu militiamen.
(c) 1994 Corinne Dufka
RELATED MATERIALS:
Rwanda: Justice After Genocide--20 Years On MARCH 28, 2014 Backgrounder Briefing
The Rwandan genocide was one of the most terrifying episodes of
targeted ethnic violence in recent world history. On the 20th
anniversary of these horrific events, Human Rights Watch stands in
solidarity with the victims and with those who survived.
Daniel Bekele, Africa director
(Nairobi) - Significant progress has been made in national and
international courts to bring to justice those responsible for the
1994 genocide in Rwanda, Human Rights Watch said today in a briefing
paper marking the 20th anniversary of the genocide.
The 20-page paper, "Justice After Genocide: 20 Years On
," focuses on the achievements of courts in Rwanda, at the UN's
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and in other
countries, to hold to account those who planned, ordered, and carried
out the genocide.
"The Rwandan genocide was one of the most terrifying episodes of
targeted ethnic violence in recent world history," said Daniel Bekele,
Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "On the 20th anniversary of
these horrific events, Human Rights Watch stands in solidarity with
the victims and with those who survived."
Between April and July 1994, Hutu extremists in Rwanda carried out a
genocideaimed at wiping out the Tutsi minority, killing more than a
half million people in just three months. Many Hutu who attempted to
hide or defend Tutsi and those who opposed the genocide were also
killed.
The briefing paper, based on Human Rights Watch field research and
trial observation in Rwanda over many years, highlights the
exceptional challenge of delivering justice in a country devastated by
genocide. The Rwandan government embarked on an unprecedented and
ambitious approach, using both conventional courts and community-based
gacaca courts.
The briefing paper outlines the achievements as well as the flaws of
Rwanda's conventional and gacaca courts, and the uneven standard of
trials in both jurisdictions.
In the immediate aftermath of the genocide, in particular,
conventional courts convicted numerous defendants after unfair trials.
In more recent years, the government has carried out a range of
legal and institutional reforms that have improved respect for due
process, but concerns remain about the judiciary's lack of
independence.
Gacaca courts left a mixed legacy. The speed with which they processed
almost two million cases was remarkable, and the participation of
local communities across the country was important. However, many
gacaca hearings resulted in unfair trials and were marred by
intimidation, corruption, and flawed decision-making.
The briefing paper also takes stock of the work of the ICTR as it
winds down in 2014, and describes a new momentum for prosecution of
Rwandan genocide suspects by courts in foreign countries, as well as
moves toward extraditing suspects to Rwanda.
In contrast with progress in genocide prosecutions, few members of the
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the former rebel group that put an end
to the genocide and is now the ruling party in Rwanda, have been
prosecuted in Rwanda, and none by the ICTR.
"RPF troops killed tens of thousands of civilians as they took over
the country in 1994," Bekele said. "These killings are not equivalent
or comparable to the genocide, but they constituted war crimes and
crimes against humanity, and the victims and their families have a
right to see justice done."
Finally, the paper describes the lasting impact of the Rwandan
genocide on neighboring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo,
and the legacy of the shameful international failure to act to prevent
the genocide in 1994.
"As the world's eyes turn to Rwanda once again, Rwanda and other
countries should build on the achievements of the last 20 years in
delivering justice for these terrible crimes," Bekele said. "They
should keep up the efforts to arrest and prosecute, in fair and
credible trials, others responsible for these crimes who are still at
large."
The video's narrator, Alison Des Forges
Alison Des Forges was Human Rights Watch's senior advisor in the
Africa Division and one of the world's foremost experts on Rwanda. In
the period leading up to the genocide, she worked tirelessly to alert
world powers to the impending crisis in Rwanda. Her efforts did not
stop when the genocide ended. She continued painstakingly gathering
information on these horrific crimes, which she compiled into what has
become one of the main reference books on the Rwandan genocide: "Leave
none to tell the story: Genocide in Rwanda", published in 1999.
Alison Des Forges campaigned vigorously for justice for the genocide
until her sudden death in a plane crash in the US on February 12,
2009. She also documented human rights abuses by the new government of
Rwanda after the genocide and advocated for accountability for all
abuses, past and present.
Photo Essay by Corinne Dufka
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