Fare thee well ICTR, we will survive

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) shut its doors on December 31, 2015 after 21 years in service. Within that period and with an annual budget of over $ 100 million, it had tried only 85 individuals despite over one million people having lost their lives. Set up on November 8, 1994 by the United Nations Security Council to try those responsible for the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, the ICTR was an answer to impunity and state-sponsored crimes against humanity. One would be unfair to imply that the ICTR failed in its mandate. To the contrary, it set some major legal precedence such as recognizing rape as a war crime and it also brought to book some major figures, however selectively. But the ICTR was an easy target for political pressure and interference and that was its major blot on its record. For example, it withdrew the indictment of Major Bernard Ntuyahaga (who had surrendered), responsible for the murder of former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and Belgian peacekeepers guarding her. It was a murky conspiracy; Belgium wanted Ntuyahaga to appease the families of the peacekeepers and ICTR caved in. There were many instances where the ICTR failed Rwandans, humiliated witnesses and ignored the victims. But Rwanda took a major lesson from the whole experience; not to rely on others to do its job. That was what triggered Gacaca courts that tried over 1.3 million suspects on a shoe-string budget. The country came out stronger after Gacaca as it was not punitive justice but more of restorative justice that has fostered reconciliation. That should have been the ICTR’s goal in the first place.

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Fare thee well ICTR, we will survive