The Ministry of Youth and ICT has backed efforts toward digitalisation of the case files accumulated through the work of over 12,000 Gacaca courts as a measure to preserve the important documents.

The Gacaca case files constitute 60 million hand-written documents recorded during a 10-year period in which over a million people stood trial for crimes related to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The ministry’s pledge comes at a time when USC Shoah Foundation, Aegis Trust Rwanda and the Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies (NIOD) are finalising a feasibility study on how the archives could be digitised and preserved.

The consortium of researchers will present their findings on December 11, and the plan will provide a roadmap on how the digitalisation will be done.

While visiting the archives at the Rwanda National Police headquarters in Kigali on Wednesday, the Minister for Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, said his ministry and Rwanda Development Board have expertise that could be used in digitalising the archives.

Partnership for common goal

Nsengimana was with the Minister for Sports and Culture, Joseph Habineza, the Inspector General of Police, Emmanuel Gasana, and Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide Jean de Dieu Mucyo as they toured the facility that hosts the highly guarded documents.

"We have partnered with some companies and have the technology to assist in preserving the archives.

Digitalisation is one part of the work needed to be done and the other is preserving the copies in their original format,” Nsengimana said.

"This is our history that we need to pass on to the next generations so we need to preserve it for generations to come.”

‘Must-do work’

Habineza said digitalisation of the documents is not a simple task given that it may take time but it’s a must-do work.

Although the archives are under heavy police guard, IGP Gasana said police’s responsibility is to provide external protection but there is need for an internal security officer.

"There is need to have someone who is charged with monitoring everything that happens inside the archives stores to avoid any likely disasters to happen,” he said.

In the spirit of preserving the archives, Aegis Trust Rwanda, King’s College London, among other partners, are working with the government and other local stakeholders to realise the dream.

From the study conducted, a portion of Gacaca cases were selected for purposes of piloting a project to determine best case scenarios to accomplish digitisation and preservation of the archives.

The Gacaca courts, which were modeled from Rwanda’s traditional justice system, operated from 2002 through 2012 and were seen as a cornerstone for the country’s reconciliation path.

There are an estimated 60 million documents from those cases that now need to be digitised, preserved and made accessible in perpetuity.

International researchers and investigators have shown interest in using the records as a unique mechanism of transitional justice.

The archives, made of paper and analogue audio-visual materials, were put together two years ago after the closure of the Gacaca courts. They were collected from over 400 sectors in the country.