Gacaca Courts system: conflict resolution and memory
Start Date
11-1-2012 9:30 AM
End Date
11-1-2012 11:00 AM
Description
In the experience of many states including Rwanda; where conflicts have taken place, the mechanisms for transitional justice have been effective in post conflict. In the training I underwent in Morocco where I spent a month sponsored by the International Center for Transitional Justice, one lecturer gave us the following definition: “Transitional justice is a response to systematic or widespread violations of human rights. It seeks recognition for victims and to promote possibilities for peace, reconciliation and democracy. Transitional justice is not a special form of justice but justice adapted to societies transforming themselves after a period of pervasive human rights abuse. In some cases, these transformations happen suddenly; in others, they may take place over many decades”. Transitional justice covers the area of memory and memorization in bid to read a democratic level; in this paper, I will be able to answer some questions like is memorization an issue for democracy? This paper will also show reasons why a society must remember and why these memories must last longer. What should we remember as memory is sometimes selective? Remember to avoid ridiculous things but promote virtue.
It is possible that Rwanda would have used the local justice even during the conflict right from 1950s when there were massacres against Tutsi. I need to stress that what lacked was the political will to carry out such an approach. This is understandable because the leadership was behind all the moves to reach the peak of Genocide against the Tutsi. I strongly believe in the truth of the statement, "if you knew me and I knew you, you would not have killed me," this is a statement written at the Kigali Genocide memorial site.
Conclusion
In the Gacaca process, the main aims focus on revealing truth about a given conflict, speeding up cases resulting from the conflict, strengthening and facilitating reconciliation as well as uprooting impunity. In this paper I seek to examine how traditional justice systems reinforce forgiveness, reconciliation and peace toward a long lasting memory that is a necessity for democratization. My experience in Gacaca process enables me to facilitate debates in line with this topic capitulating into additional important information.
Gacaca Courts system: conflict resolution and memory
In the experience of many states including Rwanda; where conflicts have taken place, the mechanisms for transitional justice have been effective in post conflict. In the training I underwent in Morocco where I spent a month sponsored by the International Center for Transitional Justice, one lecturer gave us the following definition: “Transitional justice is a response to systematic or widespread violations of human rights. It seeks recognition for victims and to promote possibilities for peace, reconciliation and democracy. Transitional justice is not a special form of justice but justice adapted to societies transforming themselves after a period of pervasive human rights abuse. In some cases, these transformations happen suddenly; in others, they may take place over many decades”. Transitional justice covers the area of memory and memorization in bid to read a democratic level; in this paper, I will be able to answer some questions like is memorization an issue for democracy? This paper will also show reasons why a society must remember and why these memories must last longer. What should we remember as memory is sometimes selective? Remember to avoid ridiculous things but promote virtue.
It is possible that Rwanda would have used the local justice even during the conflict right from 1950s when there were massacres against Tutsi. I need to stress that what lacked was the political will to carry out such an approach. This is understandable because the leadership was behind all the moves to reach the peak of Genocide against the Tutsi. I strongly believe in the truth of the statement, "if you knew me and I knew you, you would not have killed me," this is a statement written at the Kigali Genocide memorial site.
Conclusion
In the Gacaca process, the main aims focus on revealing truth about a given conflict, speeding up cases resulting from the conflict, strengthening and facilitating reconciliation as well as uprooting impunity. In this paper I seek to examine how traditional justice systems reinforce forgiveness, reconciliation and peace toward a long lasting memory that is a necessity for democratization. My experience in Gacaca process enables me to facilitate debates in line with this topic capitulating into additional important information.