The Legacy of Rwanda’s Community-Based Gacaca Courts
This report assesses the courts’ achievements and outlines a number of serious shortcomings in their work, including corruption and procedural irregularities. The report also examines the government’s decision to transfer genocide-related rape cases to the gacaca courts and to exclude from their jurisdiction crimes committed by soldiers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the country’s ruling party since the genocide ended in July 1994.
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ISBN: 1-56432-757-4
ISBN: 1-56432-757-4
- Justice Compromised
- I. Summary
- II. Recommendations
- III. Methodology
- IV. The Rwandan Genocide and the Decision to Use Gacaca
- V. The Initial Phase of Gacaca
- VI. Balancing Community-Based Conflict Resolution Practices with Fair Trial Standards
- VII. The Community Dynamic of Gacaca
- VIII. Independence and Impartiality of the Gacaca Process
- IX. Rape Cases: the Antithesis of Gacaca
- X. Selective Justice and the Failure to Address Rwandan Patriotic Front Crimes
- XI. Perspectives on Gacaca
- XII. International Support for Gacaca
- XIII. Conclusion
- Annex I. Letter to the Rwandan Minister of Justice from Human Rights Watch, March 30, 2011
- Annex II. Response to Human Rights Watch from the Rwandan Minister of Justice, May 5 2011
- Acknowledgements












