The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice without Lawyers [Hardcover]

Phil Clark explores the impact of the Gacaca community courts, the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme.Since 2001, the Gacaca community courts have been the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Drawing on six years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly five hundred interviews with participants, this book's conclusions provide indispensable insight into post-genocide justice and reconciliation.Since 2001, the Gacaca community courts have been the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Drawing on six years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly five hundred interviews with participants, this book's conclusions provide indispensable insight into post-genocide justice and reconciliation.This is a timely empirical study and review of the Gacaca Courts which were established in 2001 in Rwanda as an attempt to prosecute suspects involved in the 1994 genocide. Based on the author's original field work which began in 2003 in Rwanda and which has been updated to the end of 2009, it includes responses from within the Rwandan population. Dr. Clark argues that, despite widespread international scepticism, the Gacaca process has achieved remarkable results in terms of justice and reconciliation, although this has often come at a price, especially the re-traumatisation of many Rwandans who have participated firsthand in hearings. This book will appeal to a wide global readership crossing human rights, transitional justice and African studies for its combination of original empirical data with a socio-legal analysis.Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; Map of Rwanda; Introduction; 1. Framing Gacaca: transitional justice themes; 2. Moulding tradition: the history, law and hybridity of Gacaca; 3. Interpreting Gacaca: the rationale for analysing a dynamic socio-legal institution; 4. The Gacaca journey: the rough road to justice and reconciliation; 5. Gacaca's modus operandi: engagement through popular participation; 6ls=