African securityRwanda: how to deal with a million genocide suspects
Twenty-one years ago — on 7 April 1994 — the genocide that would kill up to one million people in Rwanda began. Another million individuals would be implicated as perpetrators, leaving Rwandans and many others to ask: how does a country begin to bring so many suspects to justice? In 2002, the Rwandan government created the gacaca — or “grass” in the country’s official language of Kinyarwanda — court system to tackle this enormous problem. Based on a traditional form of community dispute resolution, the gacaca courts functioned for ten years — until 2012. In total, an estimated one million people were tried within the gacaca courts. By Western legal standards, the gacaca courts had serious limitations. That said, the system’s ability to prosecute a massive number of suspected perpetrators in a devastated post-genocide environment is an accomplishment in itself. In fact, other countries could perhaps learn from the goal of integrating punitive responses (like prison sentences) with more restorative ones (like community service).
Twenty-one years ago — on 7 April 1994 — the genocide that would kill up to one million people in Rwanda began. Another million individuals would be implicated as perpetrators, leaving Rwandans and many others to ask: how does a country begin to bring so many suspects to justice?
In 2002, the Rwandan government created the gacaca — or “grass” in the country’s official language of Kinyarwanda — court system to tackle this enormous problem. Based on a traditional form of community dispute resolution, the gacaca courts functioned for ten years — until 2012.
Despite receiving much international attention at their outset, little is known about what the courts actually accomplished. This is surprising. For the past three years, I have been analyzing court data and conducting research in Rwanda to better understand this unique legal system whose punishments for the “genocidaires” (or those involved in the genocide) would likely be seen as light in many other countries.
Creating the courts
In the aftermath of the genocide, Rwanda’s basic infrastructure and legal institutions were in shambles.
Trust in public institutions was low. This was hardly surprising, as government institutions had been involved in the planning and execution of the genocide.
The United Nations was quick to create the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994 to “prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and neighboring States, between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994.”
But, the ICTR could only handle a fraction of the perpetrators (to dateninety-three people have been indicted by the ICTR), leaving Rwanda’s legal system overwhelmed by the vast number of citizens suspected of committing genocidal crimes.
Time was of the essence. Rwanda’s prisons were well over their capacity. It was clear that it would take decades to try all of the cases.
It was in these circumstances that Rwanda’s new political elite launched the gacaca courts as an ambitious transitional justice project to address crimes of genocide.
In 2002, the pilot phase of the project began. Following tradition, community members elected panels of judges to preside over trials within their communities. All adult Rwandans were expected to participate. Unlike the traditional gacaca courts, however, there was strong involvement from the state.
