HTPJ Blog
December 19, 2009
Overview and scope
Horrendous human rights violations plagued the small African country of Rwanda in the early 1990s culminating in what is widely known today as the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Many people died during these events, while a greater number were displaced and dispersed throughout surrounding countries and far abroad on various continents around the globe. The mass tragedies and critical human rights violations coupled with considerable political tensions in Rwanda during this period received considerable international attention prompting the international community and the United Nations to establish the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Its mission as stated by the United Nations website is as follows:
“recognizing that serious violations of humanitarian law were committed in Rwanda , and acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the Security Council created the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) by resolution 955 of 8 November 1994. The purpose of this measure is to contribute to the process of national reconciliation in Rwanda and to the maintenance of peace in the region. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was established for the prosecution of persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994. It may also deal with the prosecution of Rwandan citizens responsible for genocide and other such violations of international law committed in the territory of neighboring States during the same period.”The purpose of the tribunal was to reconcile Rwandans and bring the culprits of this mass violence and tragedies to justice. Victims of the tragedies would receive restitution at least by knowing that perpetrators of human rights violations, and genocide crimes would be prosecuted and future atrocities would be prevented.
The tribunal has been in existence for the past 11 years and it is scheduled to come to a close by the end of 2010. Unfortunately, during its tenure, the tribunal has demonstrated failure to properly and adaquately carry out its mission. It has miserably failed to provide justice and reconciliation after the mass tragedies of the early 1990s in Rwanda.
Furthermore, it is closing in the midst of unreconciled conflicts and tensions. It has raised more questions and more concerns than it has ever addressed. An overwhelming majority of the people detained at the creation of the tribunal remain incarcarated without a possibility of a fair trial in sight. It is imperative that the UN and the tribunal find a practical solution to all the unresolved matters that have been present since its inception.
The Tribunal’s Legacy
While it may be percieved by some in the international community as a progressive solution to the Central African nation’s problems due to its strict scrutiny and harsh prosecution of Hutu men and women alleged to be globally responsible for the Rwandan atrocities, on closer inspection, the tribunal has failed to demonstrate in the least bit principles of fairness, justice, and most importantly objective, unbiased actions towards the tribunal’s goals. On the contrary, the tribunal has failed in the following ways:
Reconciliation:Stake holders
The tribunal has demonstrated that its intention (based on its current record), was not to reconcile Rwandans but to act as a punitive political tool for the current Rwanda government. Instead, as the director of Human Rights Watch recently put it, the tribunal has become the victor’s court.
Investigating Major Human Rights Violations:
The tribunal sabotaged efforts to adequately address conflicts that led to the culmination of gross human rights violations that tragically took away numerous innocent lives. These events include failure to research and prosecute the assassination of Rwanda’s former President, and former Burundian President, the events whose occurrence is widely believed to have sparked the 1994 carnage.
The tribunal has also predominantly participated in selective justice and prosecution by extracting and isolating events which are politically correct to prosecute while disregarding the proper context under which these events occurred.
Namely, the tribunal refused to acknowledge and to prosecute the major war crimes committed in 1994 against Rwandans by the RPF/A (the current ruling party in Rwanda) including political assassinations against their opponents inside Rwanda, massacres of populations and illegal transportation and storage of weapons inside Rwanda in 1994. These major human rights violations, blatant crime against humanity, were a major part of what instigated the tragedy of 1994.
Serving as a Rebel Army’s Political Tool:
Immediately following the assassinations of two presidents was the beginning of the tribunal’s supposed jurisdiction, a period in which the RPF/A actively participated in conflict, in war, in committing genocide crimes, with the goal of political control of the small country. Coincidently, the Tribunal has been instrumental in strictly prosecuting the RPF’s enemies while disregarding all of the crimes committed by the RPF during the tribunal’s period of jurisdiction.
Legitimizing the RPF/A:
It is by no coincidence, and no passive action that the RPF overtook the control of the government and controlled the citizens. The RPF was involved directly in the mass killings of innocent civilians while waging war against government forces in 1994. Shortly after the cease fire in 1994, the RPF took power, and with impunity proceeded to massive reprisal killings while ruling the small African nation. The tribunal turned a blind eye on the RPF/A’s crimes despite the fact that they were just as much a necessary cause for the existence of the tribunal as the former government officials crimes.
Creating and Reinforcing the Culture of Impunity:
The tribunal’s refusal to prosecute the RPF/A’s crimes created and preserved a culture of impunity that has become rampant in the African Great Lakes Region. Each time the tribunal refused to acknowledge the RPF/A’s crimes, it reinforced the notion that political capital is more important than justice and that mass murder, crimes against humanity and war crimes can go unpunished if people responsible for such crimes are (a) winners in a certain conflict.
Blatant Bias:
The tribunal has blatantly displayed its bias by only incarcerating and prosecuting members of the Hutu ethnic group, while consciously and deliberately overlooking and conveniently excusing crimes committed by members of the RPF/A who coincidently happen to be predominantly Tutsi. The tribunal has also been instrumental in reinforcing not only mistrust, but perpetuating and potentially creating new tensions and conflicts amongst the Rwandan population.
Making a mockery of justice:
In its zeal to only pursue the losers in the Rwandan conflict and to preserve the official version of the Rwandan genocide as it is widely known, the ICTR prosecution team has made a mockery of justice by bringing false witnesses and by allowing the Rwandan government to interfere with the proceedings as well as witnesses.
The ICTR has never seriously dealt with any of the infractions and instances of obstruction of justice by the Rwandan government toward the court. Instead, the court continues to be bullied and held at ransom by the current Rwandan government. It is in this spirit that all the indicted, detainees, and prisoners of the ICTR are potential opponents of the Rwandan government. They are mostly intellectuals or business people who are a threat to the current regime. Although accused of genocide, many are held simply because they pose a serious threat of winning an election in Rwanda given a free and fair election.
Who has anything to gain and anything to lose once the tribunal has closed? One of the major focuses should be the fate of the accused and incarcerated prisoners of the ICTR.
What does the Rwandan Government have to gain from the closing of the Tribunal?
What is the benefit of the tribunal’s closing to the United Nations and the international community?
Success and limitations
It is perplexing and highly suspicious that the tribunal wants to hand over alleged war criminals into the hands of their former antagonist, who instituted and successfully carried out a four-year war, culminating in the control of the government whose hands the tribunal wants to deliver them into.
Recommendations
Considering that some of the ICTR detainees have been held for over ten years without trial and without the prospect of a fair trial, considering that they are only held to keep the Rwandan government’s opponents away, considering that trials have shown to be full of false witnesses, considering that the ICTR has only contributed to further division of the Rwandan population as opposed to reconciling them, the ICTR should release all its detainees.
Current ICTR detainees should be allowed to lead free, positive, and productive lives. Until there is a competent tribunal ready to appropriately deal with the Rwandan tragedy in its entirety and until there is a competent prosecution team that is independent as opposed to a prosecution team that is allied to any warring side whose members should equally be prosecuted, no one should be jailed or detained.
It is bad enough to be taken away from one’s family and from society for only political reasons instead of alleged crimes. However, it is even worse when a UN tribunal is incompetent and nobody stands a chance of a free and fair trial.
Related Materials:
Rwanda tribunal 'ghosts' acquitted into limbo
Security Council lengthens UN tribunals for war crimes in Balkans and Rwanda
Rwanda: “Genocide Planning” Again Rejected at ICTR
ICTR-ADAD Welcomes Acquittal of Fr. Hormisdas Nsengimana on Charges of Genocide and “Genocide Planning”
Rwanda: ICTR dismisses IBUKA boycott threats
Release of Rwanda's mastermind of death promotes genocide denial
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