Reconstructing Rwanda: balancing human rights and the promotion of national reconciliation

Abstract

Since the conclusion of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the Rwandan Patriotic Front has sought to promote unity and reconciliation through a national programme that is guided by three key structures: strict legislation, education and justice. This contribution will evaluate this programme from a sociological perspective. This evaluation will include an in-depth discussion of how reconciliation is promoted at the expense of the freedom of expression, media and democratic participation. This contribution seeks to demonstrate that reconciliation may be more effectively promoted through the official acknowledgement of human rights abuses and violations on both sides of the conflict, constructive dialogue about the events leading up to and during the genocide as well as increased political participation in Rwanda.

Keywords:

• genocide ideology
• civic education
• Gacaca
• reconciliation
• human rights

Notes

NURC, ‘Report on the Evaluation of National Unity and Reconciliation’ (report for National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, Kigali, Rwanda, 2001), 5.

Helen Hintjens, ‘Reconstruction Political Identities in Rwanda’ in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 82.

Central Intelligence Agency, ‘Rwanda’, http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html (accessed February 19, 2010); Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Vision 2020 (Kigali, Rwanda: Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, nd), 4.

NURC, Capacity Development for Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies (Kigali: NURC, nd), PowerPoint slides.

Alan J. Kuperman, ‘Provoking Genocide: A Revised History of the Rwandan Patriotic Front’, Journal of Genocide Research 6, no. 1 (2004): 82.

Ministry of Defense, Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, 4 June 2003 (O.G. No. Special of June 2003, p. 119) and its Amendments of 2nd December 2003 (O.G. No. Special of 2nd December 2003, p. 11) and of 8 December 2005, http://www.mod.gov.rw/?Constitution-of-the-Republic-of (accessed February 19, 2010), 2.

Lydia Morris, ‘Sociology and Rights: An Emergent Field’, in Rights: Sociological Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2006), 1; Damien Short, Reconciliation and Colonial Power: Indigenous Rights in Australia (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), 25.

Morris, ‘Sociology and Rights’, 11; Damien Short ‘Sociological and Anthropological Approaches’, in Human Rights: Politics and Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 98.

Ibid., 96; Richard A. Wilson, The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa: Legitimizing the Post-Apartheid State (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001): xvi; Richard A. Wilson, ‘Human Rights, Culture and Context: An Introduction’, in Human Rights, Culture and Context: Anthropological Perspectives (London: Pluto Press, 1997), 3–4.

Short, ‘Sociological and Anthropological Approaches’, 107.

Ibid.

Michael Freeman, Human Rights: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Cambridge: Polity, 2002), 85.

Wilson, The Politics of Truth and Reconciliation, 230.

Ibid.

Ibid., 224.

Morris, ‘Sociology and Rights’, 11.

Erin Daly and Jeremy Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies: Finding Common Ground (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007), 7.

John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997), 26.

Ibid., 30.

Ibid., 31.

Daly and Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies, 98.

Ibid., 99.

David A. Crocker, ‘Truth Commission, Transitional Justice, and Civil Society’, in Truth V. Justice: The Morality of Truth Commissions, ed. Robert I. Rotberg and Dennis Thompson (Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton UP, 2000), 108.

Ibid.

Daly and Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies, 15.

Elizabeth Kiss, ‘Moral Ambition within and Beyond Political Constraints: Reflections on Restorative Justice’, in Truth V. Justice: the Morality of the Truth Commissions, ed. Robert I. Rotberg and Dennis Thompson (Princeton and Oxford: Princeton UP, 2000), 79.

Ibid., 80.

Ibid., 83.

Martha Minow, Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1998), 13.

Daly and Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies, 6.

Ibid.

Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation, 26.

Ibid.

National Unity and Reconciliation Commission, ‘Report on the Evaluation of National Unity and Reconciliation’, June 2002, 5.

Ibid., 4.

Ibid., 5.

Ministry of Justice, ‘Law no. 18/2008 of 23 July 2008 Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology’, http://www.amategeko.net/index.php?Parent_ID=7726 (accessed February 20, 2010), 1.

United Nations, ‘Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December 1948, http://www.un.org/millennium/law/iv-1.htm (accessed January 8, 2010).

Ministry of Justice, ‘Law no. 18/2008 of 23 July 2008 Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology’, http://www.amategeko.net/index.php?Parent_ID=7726 (accessed February 20, 2010), 1.

Lars Waldorf, ‘Revisiting Hotel Rwanda: Genocide Ideology, Reconciliation, and Rescuers’, Journal of Genocide Research 11, no. 1 (2009): 106.

Ministry of Justice, ‘Law no. 18/2008 of 23 July 2008 Relating to the Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Ideology’, http://www.amategeko.net/index.php?Parent_ID=7726 (accessed February 20, 2010), 2.

Ibid., 3.

Paul Kagame, ‘Preface’, After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), xxi.

Ibid., xxii.

Ibid.

Ministry of Defense, Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, 4 June 2003 (O.G. No. Special of June 2003, p. 119) Amendments of 2 December 2003 (O.G. No. Special of 2 December 2003, p. 11) and of 8 December 2005, http://www.mod.gov.rw/?Constitution-of-the-Republic-of (accessed February 19, 2010), 1.

Kuperman, ‘Provoking Genocide: A Revised History’, 78.

Mark Doyle, ‘Rwanda Plane Crash Probe Halted’, BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6348815.stm (accessed April 28, 2010).

Robin Philpot, Ça Ne S'est Pas Passé Comme Ça A Kigali (Boisbriand Quebec : Prologue, 2003), 203.

Ibid., 16.

Nigel Eltringham, Accounting for the Horror: Post-Genocide Debates in Rwanda (London: Pluto Press, 2004), 13.

Ibid.

Lars Waldorf, ‘Rwanda's Failing Experiment in Restorative Justice’, in Handbook of Restorative Justice, ed. D. Sullivan and L. Tiffs (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 423.

Kuperman, ‘Provoking Genocide: A Revised History’, 63.

Waldorf, ‘Revisiting Hotel Rwanda’, 105.

Sara Bawaya (Civic Education Acting Director of Syllabus Development and Training Program, NURC) in discussion with the author, 30 May 2009.

F. Ndangiza, ‘Community Sensitization: Case of “Ingando” in Rwanda’ (paper given at the International Conference on Security and Lasting Peace in the Great Lakes Region Africa, Kigali, Rwanda, 2003), 7.

Ibid., 8.

Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, ‘Evaluation and Impact Assessment of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission’ (final report of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, 2005), 10.

Ndangiza, ‘Community Sensitization’, 7.

Institute for Justice and Reconciliation, ‘Evaluation and Impact Assessment of the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission’, 11.

Susanne Buckley-Zistel, ‘We Are Pretending Peace: Local Memory and the Absence of Social Transformation and Reconciliation in Rwanda’, in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 131.

Ndangiza, ‘Community Sensitization’, 9.

John Kanyambo in discussion with the author (Assistant Centre Manager at Mutobo Demobilization and Reintegration Centre, Musanze, Rwanda, June 2009).

Interview with Site Representative at Mutobo Demobilization and Reintegration Centre, 28 June 2009.

Ndangiza, ‘Community Sensitization’, 7; C. Mgbako, ‘Ingando Solidarity Camps: Reconciliation and Political Indoctrination in Post-Genocide Rwanda’, Harvard Human Rights Journal 18, (2005), http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss18/mgbako.shtml (accessed February 16, 2009), 217.

Phil Clark and Lars Waldorf ‘Debating Power, Politics and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda’ (debate, Oxford University, 3 March 2009).

Paul Kagame, interview by Christianne Amanpour, Amanpour, CNN, 14 March 2010, http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1003/15/ampr.01.html (accessed April 6, 2010).

Frank Habineza, ‘Security Threat to My Life, Requesting for Protection’, Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, http://rwandagreendemocrats.org/spip.php?article38 (accessed February 25, 2010); C. Mgbako, ‘Ingando Solidarity Camps: Reconciliation and Political Indoctrination in Post-Genocide Rwanda’, Harvard Human Rights Journal 18, (2005), http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss18/mgbako.shtml (accessed February 16, 2009), 217.

Freedom House, ‘Freedom of the Press 2008 – Rwanda’, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4871f62a2.html (accessed May 21, 2009).

‘Rwanda Suspends BBC Broadcasts’, The Daily Telegraph, 26 April 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/; (accessed May 21, 2010).

Ibid; ‘Rwanda Bans BBC Local Broadcasts’, BBC News, 26 April 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8019398.stm (accessed May 21, 2010).

Freedom House, ‘Freedom of the Press 2008 – Rwanda’, http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4871f62a2.html (accessed May 21, 2010).

Charles Kwizera, ‘Umuseso, Umuvugizi’, The New Times (Kigali, Rwanda) 14 April 2010, http://www.newtimes.co.rw/index.php?issue=14230&article=28032 (accessed May 21, 2010).

‘Two Leading Independent Weeklies Suspended for Six Months’ Reporters without Borders (Paris, France), 14 April 2010, http://en.rsf.org/rwanda-two-leading-independent-weeklies-14-04-2010,37015.html (accessed, May 22, 2010).

NURC, Capacity Development for Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies.

Waldorf, ‘Rwanda's Failing Experiment’, 422.

NURC, Capacity Development for Peace Building in Post-Conflict Societies.

Waldorf, ‘Rwanda's Failing Experiment’, 427.

Dennis Bikesha (Director of Training, Mobilization and Sensitization, Gacaca) in discussion with the author, 9 June 2009; National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions ‘Organic Law, No. 28/2006 of 27 June 2006, http://www.inkiko-gacaca.gov.rw/En/EnIntroduction.htm (accessed April 8, 2009), 4.

Waldorf, ‘Rwanda's Failing Experiment’, 425.

Ibid., 422.

Genocide survivor, in discussion with the author (New York: Columbia University Press, Kigali, Rwanda, 3 May 2009).

National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, ‘Context or Historical Background of Gacaca Courts’, http://www.inkiko-gacaca.gov.rw/En/Generaties.htm (accessed January 20, 2010); National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, ‘Organic Law, No. 13/2008 of 19/05/2007’, http://www.inkiko-gacaca.gov.rw/En/EnIntroduction.htm (accessed April 8, 2009), 8.

Phil Clark, ‘Human Rights Misrepresentation: Post-genocide Politics and Justice in Rwanda’ (lecture at University of London, UK, 24 February 2010).

Gacaca Case (trial, Burema, Rwanda, 7 May 2009); Gacaca Case (trial, Burema, Rwanda, 12 May 2009); Phil Clark and Lars Waldorf, ‘Debating Power, Politics and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda’ (debate, Oxford University, UK, 3 March 2009).

Ibid.

National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, ‘Organic Law, Article 12, No. 10/2007 of 01/03/2007’, http://www.inkiko-gacaca.gov.rw/En/EnIntroduction.htm (accessed April 8, 2009), 7.

Kiss, ‘Moral Ambition within and Beyond Political Constraints’, 80.

Dennis Bikesha (Director of Training, Mobilization and Sensitization, Gacaca) in discussion with the author, 9 June 2009.

Waldorf, ‘Rwanda's Failing Experiment’, 428.

John Baptiste Kayigamba, ‘Without Justice, No Reconciliation: A Survivor's Experience of Genocide’, in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 41.

Ibid; Dennis Bikesha (Director of Training, Mobilization and Sensitization, Gacaca) in discussion with the author, 9 June 2009.

Phil Clark, ‘The Rules (and Politics) of Engagement: The Gacaca Courts and Post-Genocide Justice, Healing and Reconciliation in Rwanda’, in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009): 351; John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 1997), 26.

James Munyaneza, ‘IBUKA Writes to Speaker over FARG’, The New Times (Kigali, Rwanda), 14 June 2006, http://www.rwandagateway.org/article.php3?id_article=1969 (accessed March 12, 2010); Lars Waldorf, ‘Rwanda's Failing Experiment in Restorative Justice’, in Handbook of Restorative Justice, ed. D. Sullivan and L. Tiffs (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 430.

C. Mgbako, ‘Ingando Solidarity Camps: Reconciliation and Political Indoctrination in Post-Genocide Rwanda’, Harvard Human Rights Journal 18, (2005), http://www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/hrj/iss18/mgbako.shtml (accessed February 16, 2009), 217.

Survivor's Fund, ‘SURF's Annual Report 2008’, http://www.survivors-fund.org.uk/resources/reports/ar2008/livelihood.php (accessed March 30, 2010), 9.

Human Rights Watch, You Will be Punished: Attacks on Civilians in Eastern Congo (New York: HRW, 2009), 10; Ibid., 30.

Ibid.

Phil Clark and Lars Waldorf, ‘Debating Power, Politics and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda’ (debate, Oxford University, UK, 3 March 2009).

John Kanyambo in discussion with the author (Assistant Centre Manager at Mutobo Demobilization and Reintegration Centre, Musanze, Rwanda, June 2009).

Ibid.

Ibid.

Paul Kagame, ‘Preface’, in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), xxii.

Daly and Sarkin, Reconciliation in Divided Societies, 15.

Kiss, ‘Moral Ambition within and Beyond Political Constraints, 79.

René Lemarchand, ‘The Politics of Memory in Post-Genocide Rwanda’, in After Genocide: Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Reconciliation in Rwanda and Beyond (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009): 69.

Paul Kagame, interview by Christianne Amanpour, Amanpour, CNN, 14 March 2010, http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1003/15/ampr.01.html (accessed April 6, 2010).