The government has dubbed a report released by Human Rights as slur to the genocide courts adding that even the title of the report, Justice Compromised: The Legacy of Rwanda’s Community-Based Gacaca Court, “distorts the image of Gacaca” and misrepresented the contents of the report in an attempt to “grab headlines.”
In a report released by the New York-based advocacy group claims that the system denied some defendants a fair trial and the courts were sometimes corrupt or used for political or personal gain.
Yet Gacaca reflects a justice sector that is inherently unique even Human Rights Watch itself acknowledges in the report that 1.2 million people have benefited from the Gacaca process, it also recognizes the enormous challenges the government faced after the Genocide in processing the large number of cases, not forgetting that ‘the challenge would have overwhelmed even the world’s most advanced justice system’.
Without any tangible proof Leslie Haskell a Human Rights Watch’s Africa division researcher and author of the report argued that. “If you have unfair trials whereas a large percentage of the population perceives the trials to have been flawed, or motivated by private interests or even political interests, that doesn’t serve justice in the long term.”
According to an email statement released by the government, “Rwanda welcomes constructive criticism as it builds a modern, developed justice system but reports which mischaracterize Gacaca are not constructive. We call on Human Rights Watch to find a way in future reports to balance informed criticism with a respect for the enormity of the challenges Rwanda faced in the aftermath of the genocide.
However the report praises the Gacaca system, saying it provided swift justice, helped families find victims’ remains and encouraged community participation. “Gacaca may have also helped some of victims find a way to live peacefully with neighbors who may have perpetrated crimes against them or their families,” according to the report.
What is more, Under Gacaca, people have received prison sentences of between five and ten years, life sentences constitute just five to eight percent of verdicts while between 25 and 30 percent of cases have ended in acquittal.
The community work ruling as an alternative to prison has allowed people to live in their homes and carry out their sentences about twice a week, learning to live together and move on.
Reacting on the report through an emailed statement justice minister Tharcisse Karugarama insisted that. “Through Gacaca we have been able to judge and resolve more than 1 million dossiers, a great achievement that would have been impossible.”
“Despite this, Human Rights Watch has chosen to base its verdict of Gacaca by citing a handful of cases which went wrong and then implying that the whole 1.2 million can be assessed in the same light. This is unwarranted and makes a mockery of the efforts of all Rwandans who are working together to promote justice and reconciliation,” the statement said.
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