Launched: Eight Years On...A Record of Gacaca Monitoring in Rwanda

Last week PRI launched its most recent publication Eight Years On...A Record of Gacaca Monitoring in Rwanda. The London launch brought together donors, policy makers, government officials, institutions and universities. Speakers at the launch included David Daubney PRI Chairperson and General Counsel, Coordinator of the Sentencing Reform Team at the Department of Justice, Canada; Livingstone Sewanyana, PRI Board Member, Executive Director of Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Uganda;Brig. Frank Rusagara, Military Attaché to the Rwandan High Commission to the UK, Alison Hannah, Executive Director, PRI; Nick Bates, Senior Political Analyst, Department for International Development, East and Central Africa Division and Lars Waldorf from the Centre for Applied Human Rights, University of York.
 

Why the Gacaca process?

In 1994, over the period of three months about one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed across Rwanda. The country was devastated and nearly three million people were forced into exile. The government wanted to try the perpetrators of genocide but also reconcile the communities. Yet there was no working judicial system - by the end of 1994, only twenty magistrates were left for the entire country. At the rate of 1,000 verdicts a year, it would take over a century for the regular court system to deal with the cases.  Therefore the government decided to adapt the traditional Gacaca courts to handle the process. This system was used to deal with the vast majority of genocide-related cases.

Monitoring and recording the process

PRI monitored the Gacaca process from the onset. Testimony was gathered from people across Rwanda. The aim was to give a voice to all of those involved in the Gacaca process. Their experiences were relayed to the government so that they could improve the justice system.

Over the years PRI recorded its findings in a series of reports which were translated from Kinyarwanda, the local language of Rwanda, into French and English. Eight Years On...A Record of Gacaca Monitoring in Rwanda summarises the findings of all of PRI's reports to date. It is published in English and French. The book is not an analysis by PRI of the process or a commentary on it. It is however a faithful record of the points expressed by Rwandans and a valuable contribution to discussions about the Gacaca process.

To order copies of the publication please write to: publications@penalreform.org

The publication will shortly be available at www.penalreform.org

Continuing the Gacaca discussion

Klaas de Jonge, PRI's first regional director in the Great Lakes region, has written his own analysis and commentary of the Gacaca process which you can find here.The views expressed in his commentary are personal rather than those of PRI.

PRI is keen to hear your views about the publication Eight Years On...A Record of Gacaca Monitoring in Rwanda and about Klaas de Jonge's commentary. Please write to publications@penalreform.org with your comments.