Justice, Reconciliation, and Restoration: An Evaluation of the Gacaca Courts in Post-Genocide Rwanda
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Presentation Type
Presentation
Full Name of Faculty Mentor
Richard Aidoo, Political Science
Major
Computer Science
Presentation Abstract
Decades after the atrocious genocide, Rwanda is now a model of resilience and progress on the African continent. Though the country still bears the scars from this tragic event, it has moved forward, becoming a place noted for its reconciliation efforts. To achieve this accolade out of a brutal ethnic-based conflict, the known international-based legal arrangements were insufficiently positioned to deliver justice, reconciliation, and restoration as quickly and prudently for Rwanda. Hence, the national-based innovative judicial initiative known as the gacaca courts quickly became a relatively speedy path to accountability for the genocide as well as the needed communal healing to ensure progress toward development. However, has this community-based legal approach to resolving a monumental national crisis achieved its objectives, beyond what the international-based legal and punitive system would have offered? Scholars have strong opinions to this puzzle, and this research work draws largely on the conceptual framework that positions national/community-based legal systems alongside the international-based legal frame for dealing with crimes against humanity. Based on primary and secondary sources, the gacaca court system provides a profound and refreshing context to evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of such a unique and purposeful national/community-based approach to resolving and rebuilding following one of the world's known genocides. The research concludes with the conceptual basis upon which a national/community-based legal mechanism like the gacaca system can succeed and sustain a post-genocidal era.
Location
Room 1 (BRTH 101)
Start Date
13-4-2022 2:50 PM
End Date
13-4-2022 3:10 PM
Disciplines
Political Science
Recommended Citation
Dewitt, Nysheim, "Justice, Reconciliation, and Restoration: An Evaluation of the Gacaca Courts in Post-Genocide Rwanda" (2022). Undergraduate Research Competition. 25.
https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/ugrc/2022/fullconference/25
Justice, Reconciliation, and Restoration: An Evaluation of the Gacaca Courts in Post-Genocide Rwanda
Room 1 (BRTH 101)
Decades after the atrocious genocide, Rwanda is now a model of resilience and progress on the African continent. Though the country still bears the scars from this tragic event, it has moved forward, becoming a place noted for its reconciliation efforts. To achieve this accolade out of a brutal ethnic-based conflict, the known international-based legal arrangements were insufficiently positioned to deliver justice, reconciliation, and restoration as quickly and prudently for Rwanda. Hence, the national-based innovative judicial initiative known as the gacaca courts quickly became a relatively speedy path to accountability for the genocide as well as the needed communal healing to ensure progress toward development. However, has this community-based legal approach to resolving a monumental national crisis achieved its objectives, beyond what the international-based legal and punitive system would have offered? Scholars have strong opinions to this puzzle, and this research work draws largely on the conceptual framework that positions national/community-based legal systems alongside the international-based legal frame for dealing with crimes against humanity. Based on primary and secondary sources, the gacaca court system provides a profound and refreshing context to evaluate the strengths and shortcomings of such a unique and purposeful national/community-based approach to resolving and rebuilding following one of the world's known genocides. The research concludes with the conceptual basis upon which a national/community-based legal mechanism like the gacaca system can succeed and sustain a post-genocidal era.