Law, power and justice: what legalism fails to address in the functioning of Rwanda's "Gacaca" courts

In this article, we untangle the relationships among law, power and justice as they impact on the lives of ordinary Rwandans brought into contact with the state and local officials through the gacaca process. Drawing on 37 life-history interviews conducted in 2006, we find that gacaca reinforces a p...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Thomson, Susan (Author)
Contributors: Nagy, Rosemary
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2011
In: International journal of transitional justice
Year: 2011, Volume: 5, Issue: 1, Pages: 11-30
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Auswirkung
Konflikt
Nation
Opfer > Sozialpsychologie
Recht
Rechtsprechung
Ruanda
Strafverfolgung
Tradition
Transitional Justice
Vergangenheitsbewältigung
Versöhnung
Description
Summary:In this article, we untangle the relationships among law, power and justice as they impact on the lives of ordinary Rwandans brought into contact with the state and local officials through the gacaca process. Drawing on 37 life-history interviews conducted in 2006, we find that gacaca reinforces a particular version of postgenocide justice that renders the average Rwandan citizen largely powerless over individual processes of reconciliation while serving to maintain a climate of fear and insecurity in their everyday lives. Locating the Rwandan case more broadly, we caution that a preoccupation with harmonizing traditional justice with international standards must look beyond forms of legality. While gacaca may be legally acceptable in a harmonized way, it is both a product and a producer of relations of state power that operate to impact negatively on conflict-affected individuals who bear the brunt of government-led initiatives to promote justice and reconciliation.
ISSN:1752-7724
DOI:10.1093/ijtj/ijq024