Justice in Rwanda:
A Crucial Step Toward the Establishment of a Permanent International Criminal Court

The genocide that was perpetrated in the small African nation of Rwanda in 1994 left an enormous challenge to the enforcement of humanitarian human rights law. More than half a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed; most of the country's judges and prosecutors fled the country or were killed. The criminal justice system, weak and corrupt to begin with, was in ruins. The ministry of justice had blown-out windows and smoldering case files; telephones, typewriters, and all types of equipment had been ripped off.

In November of that year, two months after the restoration of order by the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), the United Nations Security Council recognized the need to bring to justice persons suspected of having committed genocide, and created the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Today, both the ICTR and the somewhat reconstituted criminal justice system of Rwanda are at a critical point and must receive the full support - financial, political and moral of the international community. The new authorities in the country have arrested over a hundred thousand suspects, cramming them into prisons and lockups under appalling conditions. Many prisoners have become ill or died. In the entire country, only 16 practicing lawyers remain, and they are mostly unwilling to defend persons accused of taking part in the genocide. With some international help, Rwanda began holding trials for some prisoners in December 1996. But the requisite quality of justice - and thus the prospects for reconciliation and peace has been lacking.

The ICTR, meanwhile, has struggled to overcome an initial two years of mismanagement, inefficiency, and lack of attention from the international community. Located in Arusha, Tanzania - with a prosecutor's office in the Rwandese capital of Kigali - the tribunal has only recently begun to fully perform its task of dispensing justice. It is getting past its early delays in filling staff positions and personnel morale is improving.

The ICTR shares the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY), and in October 1996, Canadian judge Louise Arbour succeeded South Richard Goldstone in this position. This year, the new U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, met one of his first challenges by obtaining the resignations of the registrar and deputy prosecutor of the ICTR- who had been largely blamed for the mismanagement and inefficiency - and by appointing replacements. In January, the ICTR began its own trials.

By the summer, of the 21 persons it had indicted, 12 were in custody in Arusha - surrendered by countries where they had fled. Since then, seven more suspects have been arrested in Kenya. One indictee is waging a court battle to avoid surrender by the United States.

"It is imperative that the Statute reflect the highest standards for the protection of the rights of suspects and those charged throughout the proceedings from the time of arrest through the conclusion of trial. This is an essential component of the fairness and, thus, effectiveness of an international criminal court."

-- Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald
The persons in detention in Arusha include some of the most senior figures accused in the genocide. There is, for example, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, who was turned over by Cameroon. As "chef de cabinet' in the Ministry of Defense, Bagosora is alleged to have taken part in the plot to shoot down the president's plane in April 1994 - the event that set off the genocide. He is reported to have said two days before that event that the 1993 accords in Rwanda's civil troubles offered no solution and that it was necessary to exterminate all Tutsis. After the plane went down, he seized control of a "crisis committee" and is alleged to have ordered several Army officers to "Muhere aruhande" ("Begin on one side") which was understood to mean begin a systematic massacre. Largely using machetes and clubs, the killing that went on for the next four months may have been the most rapid genocide in history.

In Rwanda, as in most countries emerging from conflict and oppression, reconciliation is impossible without justice. While the ICTR cannot fully repair the damage, it can help prevent another genocide by insuring that there is an end to impunity. Fair trials meeting international standards of due process of those deemed to have been the "intellectual authors' of the genocide could have a liberating effect inside Rwanda and break important new ground internationally.

The ICTR as well as the Rwandan criminal justice system cannot afford to fail in its mission. Otherwise, as Rony Brauman, the former head of the Medecins sans Frontiers wrote: "Could anyone imagine a situation where the criminals who fled enjoy impunity while the other receive expedited justice? A parody of a trial or the absence of any process will only revive hatred and fear in a country where every family has a militia member, a soldier, or a victim."

Lawyers Committee has recently published a paper "Prosecuting Genocide in Rwanda: The ICTR and National Trials," making many recommendations to both the Rwandese authorities and the international community. The Lawyers Committee is also leading a campaign for an independent International Criminal Court (ICC). Senior Program Coordinator Jelena Pejic is the Lawyers Committee expert on international enforcement.