Remediation in Rwanda
Remediation in Rwanda

Author: Kristin Conner Doughty

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2016-03-08

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 0812292391

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Kristin Conner Doughty examines how Rwandans navigated the combination of harmony and punishment in grassroots courts purportedly designed to rebuild the social fabric in the wake of the 1994 genocide. Postgenocide Rwandan officials developed new local courts ostensibly modeled on traditional practices of dispute resolution as part of a broader national policy of unity and reconciliation. The three legal forums at the heart of Remediation in Rwanda—genocide courts called inkiko gacaca, mediation committees called comite y'abunzi, and a legal aid clinic—all emphasized mediation based on principles of compromise and unity, brokered by third parties with the authority to administer punishment. Doughty demonstrates how exhortations to unity in legal forums served as a form of cultural control, even as people rebuilt moral community and conceived alternative futures through debates there. Investigating a broad range of disputes, she connects the grave disputes about genocide to the ordinary frictions people endured living in its aftermath. Remediation in Rwanda is therefore about not only national reconstruction but also a broader narrative of how the embrace of law, particularly in postconflict contexts, influences people's lives. Though law-based mediation is framed as benign—and is often justified as a purer form of culturally rooted dispute resolution, both by national governments such as Rwanda's, and in the transitional justice movement more broadly—its implementation, as Doughty reveals, involves coercion and accompanying resistance. Yet in grassroots legal forums that are deeply contextualized, law-based mediation can open up spaces in which people negotiate the micropolitics of reconciliation.

The Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide

Author: Zoe Lowery

Publisher: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc

Published: 2016-07-15

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 147778571X

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In Rwanda, a small but populous country in Africa, a ghastly genocide started on April 6, 1994. Although it lasted only one hundred days, almost a million people were slaughtered by its end. This illuminating resource reviews one of the most horrible genocides in history, explaining the definition of genocide itself. Readers will learn about Rwanda's history, with a focus on the events that led to those terrible days. The book is rounded out with a brief look at post-genocide Rwanda, as the country copes and the people take back their lives after such a terrible tragedy.

A People Betrayed
A People Betrayed

Author: Linda Melvern

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2014-04-10

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1783602708

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Events in Rwanda in 1994 mark a landmark in the history of modern genocide. Up to one million people were killed in a planned public and political campaign. In the face of indisputable evidence, the Security Council of the United Nations failed to respond. In this classic of investigative journalism, Linda Melvern tells the compelling story of what happened. She holds governments to account, showing how individuals could have prevented what was happening and didn't do so. The book also reveals the unrecognised heroism of those who stayed on during the genocide, volunteer peacekeepers and those who ran emergency medical care. Fifteen years on, this new edition examines the ongoing impact of the 1948 Genocide Convention and the shock waves Rwanda caused around the world. Based on fresh interviews with key players and newly-released documents, A People Betrayed is a shocking indictment of the way Rwanda is and was forgotten and how today it is remembered in the West.

A People Betrayed
A People Betrayed

Author: Linda Melvern

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-07-25

Total Pages: 425

ISBN-13: 1350409669

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Following thirty years of research, including research into recently declassified government archives, this newly revised and expanded edition of Linda Melvern's classic of investigative journalism reveals how policymakers continue to refuse to properly acknowledge their responsibilities under international law. The new edition includes copious new material reckoning with the information that came to light during the 2022 trial of Félicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of the genocide. This new evidence feeds not only into a revised chronology and a wholly new section on the build-up to the genocide, but also into a new appendix that lists the six major genocide memorial sites in Rwanda along with now-incontrovertible details of the massacres that occurred there. Throughout it all, Melvern reveals in unmatched detail the scale, speed, and intensity of the unfolding genocide, and she exposes the Western governments and individuals who could have prevented what was happening if only they had chosen to act. What emerges is a shocking indictment of how Rwanda was ignored in 1994 and of how it is misremembered in the West today-an indictment that renders all the more poignant Melvern's accounts of the unrecognised heroism of those who stayed on during the violence, from volunteer peacekeepers to NGO workers.

Justice in Africa
Justice in Africa

Author: Paul J Magnarella

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-02-06

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1351790587

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This title was first published in 2000: This work describes the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) - the first international court created to try persons for genocide and violation the humanitarian law of non-international armed conflict. The book begins with an explanation of the causes of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It then discusses the UN Security Council's creation of the ICTR and the Tribunal's organization, functioning, accomplishments and shortcomings. The author explains how the Tribunal has gained custody over suspects who had fled to other countries in Africa, Europe and also to the USA. The book analyzes the ICTR's first several cases and describes the unique contributions the Tribunal is making to the expansion of humanitarian law. In addition, the author describes Rwanda's own legal attempts to deal with the trauma of 1994 by passing a new genocide statute and creating special genocide courts. He also explains the similiarities and differences between the Tribunal for Rwanda and the one created by the UN Security Council to deal with major crimes committed during the break-up of former Yugoslavia.

Intent to Deceive
Intent to Deceive

Author: Linda Melvern

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-02-25

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1788733304

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It is twenty-five years since the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi of Rwanda when in the course of three terrible months more than 1 million people were murdered. In the intervening years a pernicious campaign has been waged by the perpetrators to deny this crime, with attempts to falsify history and blame the victims for their fate. Facts are reversed, fake news promulgated, and phoney science given credence. Intent to Deceive tells the story of this campaign of genocide denial from its origins with those who planned the massacres. With unprecedented access to government archives including in Rwanda Linda Melvern explains how, from the moment the killers seized the power of the state, they determined to distort reality of events. Disinformation was an integral part of their genocidal conspiracy. The gnocidaires and their supporters continue to peddle falsehoods. These masters of deceit have found new and receptive audiences, have fooled gullible journalists and unwary academics. With their seemingly sound research methods, the Rwandan gnocidaires continue to pose a threat, especially to those who might not be aware of the true nature of their crime. The book is a testament to the survivors who still live the horrors of the past. Denial causes them the gravest offence and ensures that the crime continues. This is a call for justice that remains perpetually delayed.

Beyond Genocide: Transitional Justice and Gacaca Courts in Rwanda
Beyond Genocide: Transitional Justice and Gacaca Courts in Rwanda

Author: Pietro Sullo

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-09-19

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 9462652406

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Combining both legal and empirical research, this book explores the statutory aspects and practice of Gacaca Courts (inkiko gacaca), the centrepiece of Rwanda's post-genocide transitional justice system, assessing their contribution to truth, justice and reconciliation. The volume expands the knowledge regarding these courts, assessing not only their performance in terms of formal justice and compliance with human rights standards but also their actual modus operandi. Scholars and practitioners have progressively challenged the idea that genocide should be addressed exclusively through 'westernised' criminal law, arguing that the uniqueness of each genocidal setting requires specific context-sensitive solutions. Rwanda's experience with Gacaca Courts has emerged as a valuable opportunity for testing this approach, offering never previously tried homegrown solutions to the violence experienced in 1994 and beyond. Due to the unprecedented number of individuals brought to trial, the absence of lawyers, the participative nature, and the presence of lay judges directly elected by the Rwandan population, Gacaca Courts have attracted the attention of researchers from different disciplines and triggered dichotomous reactions and appraisals. The tensions existing within the literature are addressed, anchoring the assessment of Gacaca in a comprehensive legal analysis in conjunction with field research. Through the direct observation of Gacaca trials, and by holding interviews and informal talks with survivors, perpetrators, ordinary Rwandans, academics and the staff of NGOs, a purely legalistic perspective is overcome, offering instead an innovative bottom-up approach to meta-legal concepts such as justice, fairness, truth and reconciliation. Outlining their strengths and shortcomings, this book highlights what aspects of Gacaca Courts can be useful in other post-genocide contexts and provides crucial lessons learnt in the realm of transitional justice. The primary audience this book is aimed at consists of researchers working in the areas of international criminal law, transitional justice, genocide, restorative justice, African studies, human rights and criminology, while practitioners, students and others with a professional interest in the topical matters that are addressed may also find the issues raised relevant to their practice or field of study. Pietro Sullo teaches public international law and international diplomatic law at the Brussels School of International Studies of the University of Kent in Brussels. He is particularly interested in international human rights law, transitional justice, international criminal law, constitutional transitions and refugee law. After earning his Ph.D. at the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Dr. Sullo worked at the Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law in Heidelberg as a senior researcher and as a coordinator of the International Doctoral Research School on Retaliation, Mediation and Punishment. He was also Director of the European Master's Programme in Human Rights and Democratization (E.MA) in Venice from 2013 to 2015 and lastly he has worked for international NGOs and as a legal consultant for the Libya Constitution Drafting Assembly on human rights and transitional justice.