Rwanda: Twenty Years after the Genocide—Representation and Justice

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Rwanda: Twenty Years after the Genocide—Representation and Justice

Notes

1. Jean Pierre Bucyensenge, ‘Gicumbi survivors weigh the ideal of human resilience against all odds’, The New Times, 7 March 2014.

2. See: Phil Clark (2010) The Gacaca Courts and Post-genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice without Lawyers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; and Phil Clark and Zachary D. Kaufman (Eds) (2009) After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond. London: Columbia University Press.

3. I refer here to the issue of the great numbers of alleged génocidaires still at large around the world. Countries and organisations (the Catholic Church, in particular) have been at best sluggish and at worst wilfully obstinate in extraditing the suspects or bringing them to justice under their own jurisdictions. Countries such as France often quote the lack of the Rwandan justice system’s independence as a reason blankly to refuse extradition requests. Although these concerns may well be justified, they have to be considered in the context of the inadequacy of successive French governments in dealing with (or their outright refusal to deal with) their country’s record in Rwanda—before, during and after the genocide. The PR war, which the Rwandan government has been losing in recent years, does not help here, of course. The last few months have seen some progress. The conviction of Pascal Simbikangwa to 25 years in prison in Paris is perceived by some as a landmark and, perhaps, a turning point in France’s notoriously poor record in pursuing alleged génocidaires living within her borders. Five men, who have been living freely in the UK for over a decade, including a pastor of a Pentecostal church in Kent, Celestin Mutabaruka, are currently facing extradition proceedings at the Westminster Magistrates Court. Although these movements are welcome, they are a drop in the ocean.