RWANDA

KHIN MAUNG SHWE COORDINATOR, TJP of HREIB

Truth - Justice – Reconciliation - Peace

 Historic Background
 After independent
 Preparation for
Genocide
 ICTR / National Courts /
Gacaca
 Women role in TP
 Relevance for Peace
and Justice
What is Rwanda?
 Beautiful, small, landlocked
 Size: 26228 sq km
 Location: Uganda, DRC, Tanzania
and Burundi
 Capital: Kigali and 10 other
provinces, 106 districts
 Population: 8,440,820 million
 Official languages: Kinyarwanda,
French and English
 Local language(s): Kinyarwanda
 Three ethnic groups: Twa (1%)
Hutu ( 84%), Tutsi (15%)
 Tutsi- tall, slim, straight nose, long
finger
 Hutu-stockier, broad nose, short
finger
 Religious: Roman Catholic 56.5%,
Protestant 26%, Adventist 11.1%,
Muslim 4.6%, indigenous beliefs
0.1%, none 1.7%
 No one knows who got there first
 Historic Background Kingdom
• Religious European colonial arrived with a racist world
vision
• 1885 the Berlin conference agrees to make Ruanda-
Urandi a German protectorate
• 1916 Belgian expel the German colonials
• 1920 Belgian colonizers took over admin;
Tutsi collaborated in this colonization
• 1923 Ruanda-Urandi becomes a mandate territory of
League of Nations (Belgian favor Tutsi)
• 1930, the identity cards that had been introduced by the
Belgians
• 1945 Belgian mandate is to transfer power-UN
Trusteeship
• 1957 Decolonization takes hold in Africa (Tutsi-Power)
(Hutu-Democracy)
 Beginning of a new political era
 1950 The Tutsi King was assassinated in
Burundi, upraising 15,000 Tutsi dead, thousand
flee
 1957: Hutu Manifesto
 1959: Social Revolution, first killings of Tutsi
(school, workplace, foreign employees expel)
 1960: Communal elections won by parmehutu
 1/7/1962: Independence (Gregoire Kayibanda)
 1/12/1963: Tutsi attack & reach within 20 km of
Kigali, Belgians help Hutu retreat to Burundi
(20,000 massacring, 100,000 Refugees)
 Previous Massacres
 1963-64: President sponsored an anti-Tutsi campaign
(ten of thousand massacre, 300,000 refugees)

 1967: renewed massacre of Tutsi (12,000)

- UNHCR (300,000 refugee in Uganda, Burundi,
Congo, Tanzania)
- Belgian and Rwandian cover up info

 July1968: National assembly (Parliamentary

Investigation Commission)

 In Burundi, Hutu are massacre by Tutsi in 1972

 The First Phrase 1973-75 Relief & Euphoria

 July 5th 1973 Coup (North Hutu) of Gen. Habyamana,

chief of staff (Peace & Reconciliation without talking
with resistance groups), and (not only would Tutsis be
excluded from power, but also any Hutu who had been
infected by Tutsis
 Quotas for ethnic & regions (policy) Tutsis (9)%,
North group satisfied, South ousted from dominant
position
 Habyarimana argued (refugee had to stay in
neighboring country because of full up
 Armed forces from 5,000 to 35,000
 1975 system of social & political policy “ Mouvement
Re’volutionnaire National Pourle De’veloppement
(MRND)
 The Second Phrase 1975-86
Political & social control Economics expansion

 1978 A new constitution was promulgated

 1974-82 Economic growth

 Organized his own fiercely loyal militia (Interahamwe)-

criminal organization
 Income from robbing and looting
 Youths joined
 Paid much more than other gainful or hope employment
 French trained Presidential Guard
 The Third Phrase 1986-90
Economic crisis & Erosion of power
 1984-89 economics crisis- more employees
unemployed
 Family of Habyaimana (wife),
akazu, a small hut, concentrate (power)
 World Bank blocked all funds

 1986 Tutsis ex-NRA officers formed the

Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)
 1990, 1500-strong RPF invaded
 The Fourth Phrase 1990- until Genocide
 July 5th 1990, President announces initiative dialogue
 Sep 1st 1990 a group of 33 intellectuals demand multi-
party document (MDR, PSD, PL, PDC)
 Oct 1st 1990 RPF launches from Uganda
 RPF with military assistance of France, halt (guerrilla
war)
 Gov’t reacts by imprisoning (8,000)
 Two major demonstrations (Nov 17th 1991, Jan 8th
1992) (30,000-100,000)
 Apr 16th 1992 President Dismas Nsengiyaremye
elected (MDR-MRND) Interim gov’t (to negotiate with
RPF, to ensure internal security, to organize general
election)
 Preparation for and/ or Genocide
 Hard line – MRND, CDR- Opposition – MDR, PSD, PL
 MRND-propaganda Campaign ethnic hatred (Radio Television des
Milles Collines-RTML)
 Well armed equip by French, trained in USA
 1993 Opposition party split from Interim gov’t
 Aug 1993- Arusha Peace Accord
 The panga- a small machete imported from China-mazu
 Apr 6th 1994 President’s plane is shot down with 3 hand-launched
heat-seeking missiles (French made) near Kigali airport
 President Guard distributed weapons: death list (moderate Hutu e.g;
President of the constitutional court), after one hour-President’s death
 The first day (intellectuals, HRts activists, journalists,-) PM Agathe
Uwilingiyamana guarded by 10 Belgians soldiers
 Apr 7th-July 4th (800,000 Tutsi + political moderate Hutu, 200,000
Hutu)
 July 4th RPF seized power (2 million Hutu-Congo)
 Installed a provisional gov’t consisting of 2 Hutus & 1 Tutsi
 Aug 1993- Arusha Peace Accord

Commission of National Unity and

National Reconciliation
( Established by Presidential order)

 12 members were appointed by President

 Sensitize Rwandans on National Unity

 Promote reconciliation
 Sensitize Rwandans on their rights
Propaganda

 The media participated in a “structured

attempt to use media to influence
awareness, attitude, or behavior”.
 Funded by Hutu extremists
Print
 Newspaper (back to hill or home)
 66 % can read
 11 of 42 journals founded in 1991
 Kangura (voice of hate) “the voice that
seeks to awake and guide the majority
people
 Cartoon, articles (a cockroach cannot give
birth to a butterfly) in March 1993
 The ten commandments published in
1990
Radio (“Cut the Tall Trees”)
 29% to 58.7% of household had radios
 Gov’t distributed radios free
 Only one radio station owned by Habyarimana’s
in law (Radio Rwanda, Radio Television Libre
des Mille Collines- RTLM) 8 a.m to 11 a.m
 To prepare the people of Rwanda for genocide.
 You cockroaches must know you are made of
flesh! We won’t let you kill! We will kill you.
 Stand up, take action… without worrying about
Int’l opinion
 RPF bombed, continued broadcast from
armored car
Gender Propaganda
 “socialconstruction of permeable boundaries
between ethnic groups… nations of racial purity
 Marriage- Tutsi women & Hutu men were legally
Hutu
 Tutsi women as enemies of the State
 Tutsi women were more beautiful and desirable,
but inaccessible to Hutu men whom allegedly
looked down upon and were too good for.
 Sexual positions (prostitutes)
Four commandments in December, 1990

First

Every Hutu should know that a Tutsi woman,

wherever she is, work for the interest of her Tutsi
ethnic group.

As a result, we shall consider a traitor any Hutu

who: marries a Tutsi woman; befriends a Tutsi
woman; employs a Tutsi woman as a secretary
or concubine.
Second

Every Hutu should know that our Hutu

daughters are more suitable and
conscientious in their role as woman, wife
and mother of the family.

Are they not beautiful, good secretaries

and more honest?
Third
Hutu woman, be vigilant and try to bring
your husbands, brothers and son back to
reason.

Fourth
The Rwandese Armed Forces should be
exclusively Hutu. The experience of the
October 1990 war was has taught us a
lesson. No number of the military shall
marry a Tutsi.
Recount statements of their violators such as

 We want to see how sweet Tutsi women

are.
 You Tutsi women think that you are too
good for us.
 We want to see if a Tutsi woman is like a
Hutu woman.
 If there were peace you would never
accept me.
 Sexual violence
 15,700 women
 250,000 to 500,000 rapes numbers
 2000-5000 pregnancy
 Suicide
 70% of the women raped during the genocide
are HIV-positive
 13.5% of the Rwandan population living with
HIV/AIDS
 500,000 people living with HIV/AIDS and
requiring triple therapy, only 7000
1. Types of sexual violence
 The violation of Tutsi women was not a casualty of war
 But a step in the process of the deconstruction of the
Tutsi group– destruction of the spirit of the will to live,
and of life itself
 Interahamwe forced them into collective and individual
sexual slavery, mutilated them
 The victim ranged from two years old to over fifty year
 Pregnant women or women who had recently given birth
were not spared; their rapes frequently resulted in death
from hemorrhaging and other medical complications
 Forced to kill their own children before or after being
raped
Women Perpetrator

 5,500 women in 1997 (5%)

 3442 of 108215 imprisoned in 2001

(2.3 %)
Rwanda Patriotic Front’s massacre

 25,000 to 45,000 from April through

August of 1994
 Tanzanian border refugee camp killing
 RPF soldiers in Gacaca court
What is the result?

 400,000 widows
 500,000 orphans
 130,000 imprisoned
 70-72 % women in population
 2 Millions Hutu refugee in Congo
6000 orphanages in Kigali alone
Family without Parent
Orphans & Detainees
 International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
(ICTR)

 set up 8 of November 1994 after genocide, UN

security Council (Resolution 955)

 Purpose
 Jan1-Dec 31, 1994, to investigate the crimes for
genocide & other serious violation of inte’l
humanitarian law- Rwanda & neighbor countries
 to contribute to process of national reconciliation,
 maintenance of peace – to replace culture impunity
 Composition of ICTR
ICTR
(16)

Trail Trail Trail Appeals Chamber

(3) (3) (3) (5)

Composed of Judges elected by the General

Assembly- Security Council
The Judges are elected for a term for four years
16 Independent judges
Prosecutor appointed UN-security Council on 15 Sept
2003
 9 Ad Litem judges (maximum 4 attached to the Trial
Chambers)
 Judges in Order of Precedence
Name Country of Origin Chamber
1. Judge Charles Michael Dennis Byron St. Kitts & Nevis President ICTR
Member, Trial Chamber III
2. Judge Khalida Rachid Khan Pakistan Vice-President ICTR
Presiding Judge, Trial Chamber III
3. Judge Fausto Pocar Italy Presiding Judge, Appeals
Chamber
4. Judge William Sekule United Republic of Presiding Judge, Trial Chamber II
Tanzania
5. Judge Erik Møse Norway Presiding Judge Trial Chamber I
6. Judge Mohamed Shahabuddeen Guyana Member, Appeals Chamber
7. Judge Mehmet Güney Turkey Member, Appeals Chamber
8. Judge Liu Daqun China Member, Appeals Chamber
9. Judge Andrésia Vaz Senegal Member, Appeals Chamber
10. Judge Theodor Meron United States Member, Appeals Chamber
11. Judge Wolfgang Schomburg Germany Member, Appeals Chamber
12. Judge Arlette Ramaroson Madagascar Member, Trial Chamber II
13. Judge Jai Ram Reddy Fiji Member, Trial Chamber I
14. Judge Sergei Alekseevich Egorov Russian Federation Member, Trial Chamber I
15. Judge Inés Mónica Weinberg de Argentina Member, Trial Chamber III
Roca
16. Judge Joseph Asoka Nihal De Silva Sri Lanka Member, Trial Chamber II
 Ad Litem Judges
17.
Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa Uganda Member, Trial Chamber II

18.
Judge Lee Gacugia Muthoga Kenya Member, Trial Chamber II

19.
Judge Florence Rita Arrey Cameroun Member, Trial Chamber III

20.
Judge Emile Francis Short Ghana Member, Trial Chamber II

21.
Judge Taghrid Hikmet Jordan Member, Trial Chamber II

22.
Judge Seon Ki Park Republic of Korea Member, Trial Chamber II

23.
Judge Gberdao Gustave Kam Burkina Faso Member, Trial Chamber III

24.
Judge Robert Fremr Czech Republic Member, Trial Chamber III

25.
Judge Vagn Joensen Denmark Member, Trial Chamber III
 Budget and Staff

 The Total Budget US$246,890,000 for 2006-

2007

 Authorized 1,042 posts

 85 nationalities ( Arusha, Kigali, the Hague and

New York)
 Status of Cases

 Cases in progress (29 cases)

 Awaiting Trial (6 Cases)
 Completed Cases (27 Cases)
 Cases on Appeal (6 Cases)
 Transferred to National Jurisdiction (1 Case)
 Detainees Acquitted (5)
 Detainees Released (3 Cases)
 Deceased (3)
 Witness Support & Protection

o The section was established in 1996.

o Providing impartial support and protection

service.

o All witness and victims called to testify.

o The following three service are being

provided (1. assistance to witnesses and
victims, 2. protection of witnesses, 3. medical
care in support of witnesses and victims
 The United Nations Detention Facility
(UNDF)

 established in 1996

 10 Kilometres from Tribunal’s HQs in Arusha, Tanzanian

 International Prison standards (89 individual cells, a kitchen,

medical facilities, library, a classroom & a gymnasium)

 61 detainees

 Benin (23), Mali, Swaziland, France, Sweden and Italy

Detainees on Trial 29
Awaiting Trial 6
Awaiting Transfer 14

Pending Appeal 6
Total Detainees in Arusha 55
Serving Sentences 6
Total Detainees 61
Acquitted 5
Released 3
Died 2
Case Transferred to National Jurisdiction 1
Number of accused whose cases have been completed 33
Number of Judgments rendered after appeal judgment 27
Total Arrests 72
 National Courts & Category

1. Planners, organizers, instigators, supervisors,

leaders of genocide (confession before 2005-
25Y)- death penalty
2. Perpetrators, intentional, serious assaults
resulting in death (25-30)-(12-15) (3-5)
3. Committed serious but non-lethal assaults
4. Crimes against property
(100,000 suspects awaiting trails, 6,000 cases
complete, 6,500 people convicted, 700 have
received death sentences, 23 executed)
 Gacaca Court (grassy space)
GACACA COURTS initiative is very timely because it will make the
following possible:

 To enable the truth to be revealed about Genocide and crimes

against Humanity in Rwanda.
 To speed up the trials of those accused of Genocide, Crimes
against Humanity and other crimes.
 To put an end to the culture of impunity in Rwanda.
 To reconcile the people of Rwanda and strengthen ties
between them.
 To revives traditional forms of dispensing justice based on
Rwandese culture.
 To demonstrates the ability of local communities to solve their
own problems.
 To helps solve some of the many problems caused by
Genocide.
 Organization and powers of the
Gacaca Courts
Judges
 The judges of the GACACA Courts will be respectable
people of at least 21 years of age, and elected by
people of voting age. They will take responsibility for e
nsuring orderly and fair proceedings.
(35%-42%)
The Functional Hierarchies of the Gacaca Courts are
as follows:
 The General Assembly
 The Court Council
 The Coordination Committee
 The Structure of the Gacaca Tribunals in Rwanda
Level Number Competence Observations

Province 12 To judge appeals for The competence of gacaca tribunals to judge appeals
category II crimes for category II crimes, which carry a life sentence, has
been controversial. Many believe such appeals should
be heard before a formal tribunal
District 106 To judge category II Category II crimes were the major category in the
crimes To judge traditional gacaca system, covering 80% of all cases
appeals for
category III crimes

Sector 1,531 To judge category III It is likely that there will be few category III crimes
crimes To judge
appeals for
category IV crimes

Cell 9,189 To categorize the With respect to the categorization of crimes, a major
accused To list dam innovation is the classification of rape as a category I cr
ages To judge ime, and therefore outside the scope of the gacaca trib
category IV crimes unals The penalty for category IV crimes is restitution n
ot imprisonment
 Why Gacaca is to succeed ?

 It
will depend upon Rwanda’s women
 The majority of survivors
 The majority of witnesses
 Women’s testimony
Peace Building
 Participating as a member of the
negotiating team for the 1993 Arusha peac
e accords
 produced a power-sharing agreement
designed to end Rwanda’s civil war
 Integrating peace and reconciliation
components into school curricula, as well a
s into religious, NGO, and gov’t programs
 Conducting sensitization sessions on
Rwanda’s May 2003 constitution as a mem
ber of the Forum of Women Parliamentaria
ns
 Mobilizing women to run for political office
 Encouraging both single-identity workshops
and cross-community initiatives that
promote understanding between Tutsis and
Hutus
 Educating, counseling, and rehabilitating
survivors of the genocide.
 Transition & The Role of Women

Statue Celebrating Women, downtown

Representatives in Parliament During Transition Period
 Key finding
 Following parliamentary elections in 2003, women
hold nearly 50 % of seats
 During the post-genocide transition years, innovative
mechanisms were created that enabled women’s
participation in leadership structure at all levels
 At national grassroots levels, Rwandan women have
been at the forefront of post-genocide recovery and
reconciliation
 Women in gov’t have developed models for working
across party and ethnic lines and strengthening
partnerships with civil society
 The Fonds d'aide aux rescapés du génocide
(FARG) [genocide survivors' assistance fund]

 Victim support provided by the Rwandan government is

estimated at 5% of its national annual budget
 the FARG covers several basic needs, including
providing schooling for orphans and lodging for widows
 only 4000 persons were prosecuted and judged, the
Rwandan courts granted close to US$100 million in
damages to victims
 66.7% of the 491 cases of trauma, illness and other
consequences of the rapes were HIV/AIDS-related
 Out of the 491 women who had serious sequelae, 327
were HIV-positive
 Of the 18 interviews conducted, 13 women were with
mothers who had children before the genocide, one had
just given birth, two were young single women and two
were minors at the time of the genocide.
Commemoration

 Last Saturday, Rwanda began an official national week

of mourning to commemorate the 1994 genocide.
 Nightclubs are closed, flags are being flown at half-staff,
and
 National Radio is playing traditional mourning music.
 Launching an initiative to have the UN formally declare
April 2004 Rwanda Genocide Remembrance Month
 The United Nations has now declared April 7th as the
"International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide in
Rwanda."
 Relevance for Peace & Justice

 Never again
 Evolution of political & legal accountability
 Cooperation of Africa countries
 Enforcement of prison sentences
 Political, moral and material support
Acronyms
 Government of National Unity (GNU)
 Republican Democratic Movement (MDR)
 Minister of Gender & Women in Development
(MIGEPROFE)
 National Revolutionary Movement for Development
(MRND)
 National Unity & Reconciliation Commission (NURC)
 Centrisemocratic Party (PDC)
 Liberal Party (PL)
 Social Democratic Party (PSD)
 Rwandan Socialist Party (PSR)
 Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA)
 Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF)