Eliminating Fear Through Recreating Community in Rwanda: The Role of the Gacaca Courts

Abstract

More than a decade after the Rwandan genocide, the sheer magnitude of what took place still has the power to shock us: 800,000 people brutally murdered in a 100 day period; 500,000 who participated in some way in the genocide or in genocide related crimes; and the fact that the U.N. and western powers could allow this to happen without intervention. Given these horrendous facts, the notion of obtaining "justice" for the victims of the Rwandan genocide seems impossible. How can one speak of justice when one group of Rwandan society, the Hutus, came to see the other group of society, Tutsis and moderate Hutus, as so alien to the general community that their extermination became not only imaginable, but desirable? How can one dispense justice when so many participated in the genocide or in genocide related crimes such as assault, rape, and destruction of property? How can one enforce justice when Rwanda has insufficient jails to house the accused; insufficient lawyers, courthouses, and resources to prosecute and defend the accused; and insufficient police to investigate the crimes and protect the witnesses?