The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda
Justice without Lawyers
Published on 9. September 2010
Book
Hardback
402 pages
978-0-521-19348-1 (ISBN)
Description
Since 2001, the Gacaca community courts have been the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Nearly every adult Rwandan has participated in the trials, principally by providing eyewitness testimony concerning genocide crimes. Lawyers are banned from any official involvement, an issue that has generated sustained criticism from human rights organisations and international scepticism regarding Gacaca's efficacy. Drawing on more than six years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly five hundred interviews with participants in trials, this in-depth ethnographic investigation of a complex transitional justice institution explores the ways in which Rwandans interpret Gacaca. Its conclusions provide indispensable insight into post-genocide justice and reconciliation, as well as the population's views on the future of Rwanda itself.
Reviews / Votes
'Clark's book is the culmination of nine years of research on and in Rwanda, and it exhibits the combination of breadth and level of detail that is made possible through such an extended engagement with a topic ... Clark provides his readers with a wide horizon of possible interpretations of this unique process, and this book will certainly reorient the debates in future gacaca scholarship.' Christian M. De Vos, International Journal of Transitional JusticeMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
1 map
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
731 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-521-19348-1 (9780521193481)
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Schweitzer Classification
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Phil Clark
The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda
Justice without Lawyers
Book
12/2011
Cambridge University Press
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Phil Clark
The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda
Justice without Lawyers
E-Book
11/2010
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€49.99
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E-Book
09/2010
1st Edition
Cambridge University Press
€42.99
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Person
Phil Clark is a Research Fellow in Courts and Public Policy at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, and a Convenor for Oxford Transitional Justice Research. He has used his experience and knowledge of conflict issues in Africa and elsewhere to provide policy advice to a wide range of government and non-government actors.
Content
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; 6. Gacaca's pragmatic objectives; 7. Accuser, liberator or reconciler? Truth through Gacaca; 8. Law, order and restoration: peace and justice through Gacaca; 9. Mending hearts and minds: healing and forgiveness through Gacaca; 10. (Re)fusing social bonds: Gacaca and reconciliation; Conclusion; Glossary; Bibliography; Index.