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From Never Again

Gacaca courts are a new form of community justice that is used in Rwanda in the wake of the Rwandan Genocide. Since the genocide in 1994, the new Rwandese Patriotic Front's government has struggled to come up with a solution for the humane detention and prosecution of the more than 100,000 accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. Those who planned the genocide and those who allegedly committed gender based crimes will be prosecuted before ordinary state criminal courts (although this may change within some months). Moreover, the gacaca do not have jurisdiction over war crimes nor ordinary crimes. The Gacaca court system has evolved as a new solution, influenced by the traditional, communal law enforcement techniques. The system, put in place in March 2001, involves both victims and witnesses in an interactive court proceeding against alleged criminals. The judges are untrained citizens, elected by their peers. The procedure is expected to promote community healing by making the punishment of perpetrators faster, as well as less expensive to the state. Despite concerns from many survivors and the Rwandan diaspora, the Gacaca process has gone on through 2005, attempting to establish the truth of what happened in 1994.

How successful has the Gacaca process been in fostering reconciliation and 'truth' about the genocide?

Admirable aspects of Gacaca

• Community-wide sessions that ask everyone to come and be involved, rather than an elite group with its own interests.
• The opportunity for survivors to tell their stories as opposed to having it swept under the rug.
• A certain resolution of the prisoner population problem, possibly the only solution feasible due to the cost of detaining prisoners.
• Exposure of perpetrators who had been able to keep their role secret in their communities, as a result of survivors recounting their experiences.
• The potential for trauma resolution by addressing what happened and discussing it, particularly for survivors and those (including hundreds of thousands of children) who witnessed terrible actions against their families.
• Community support for survivors.
• Safer villages, as a result of the prosecution of those who committed crimes.
• A final psychological resolution for the citizens of Rwanda.

Problems which have been reported

• A lack of witnesses attending the sessions (either because they are deceased or haveleft the area).
• Intimidation and pressure towards witnesses, including from different groups within the perpetrators, who are said to have told different versions in order to get released.
• Concerns from survivors as well as the outside diaspora and some academics that prisoner releases do not represent justice, that people are confessing simply to be released and not because they are repentant.

Questions

• Rwandan culture has a lot of faith in truth being told in front of other people. However, can this result in a received version of the truth? What of the parallel culture of secrets and taboos?
• What is the impact of large numbers of prisoners entering a society which may not have economic opportunities for them?
• Is discussion and condemnation around 'Never Again' and genocidal ideology in society reaching further than the economic elite, particularly those returnees whose links may be more with other returnees than the pre-1994 population. Is there a division which is not being fully addressed?
• Does the blame given to the 'white man' in the general historical narrative erode the prospect of full responsibility being taken by African societies to maintain peaceful societies? Is the defensive attitude against the west leading to atrocities being overlooked, for example in Zimbabwe?

Sources

• Gacaca court - Wikipedia
• Rwanda Report 2002 - Notes from Never Again's 2002 meeting with Mr. Félicien Munyurangabo, Director of Gacaca jurisdictions in Kibungo Province, Rwanda