LSJ 200 RQ 16
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Reading Questions – Jordan Nowotny – The limits of post-genocide justice in Rwanda:
assessing gacaca from the perspective of survivors”; Film—“In the Tall Grass
Based upon the reading and the film, what are the strongest arguments that could legitimate the
use of gacaca courts in response to the Rwandan genocide?
We can see that the gacaca courts are very effective in responding to the sheer scale of
cases available. It handled a lot of issues relatively quickly.
Based also upon the reading and the film, what were the range of concerns that survivors aired
after the process concluded? Which of these concerns seem most significant to you, and why?
Many victims and survivors still live next to the people who originally tried to kill them.
This is a shortcoming of the courts, that on this scale, they cannot afford to put every perpetrator
in prison, meaning that they are typically released back after a long period of reconciliation.
There is also a fear that the lighter sentences would have been insufficient to deter another
potential genocide. I think that the biggest concern is the fact of just how quickly and
unconcerning the courts were when releasing the convicted back to their homes, to live right
next to survivors.
Given these various arguments for gacaca courts, and concerns about them, how do you
assess a more localized mechanism such as this as a response to a genocide like which
occurred in Rwanda?
I think that there are certain benefits with gacaca courts, as too much punishment would
lead to more detriments to the nation as a whole rather than to help them seek forgiveness.
Given the circumstances, gacaca courts were a response to the vast amount of perpetrators. It
accomplished the deed of processing them and attempting to fix the immediate issue. I think
based on scale that the genocide was conducted, the gacaca courts were necessary.
More generally, is there a role for the international community to play in seeking to either
address a genocide after the fact, or to act in ways that reduce the likelihood of their occurrence
in the first place?
I think that to ensure that the nation recovers is a good way to help stabilize the region,
and make sure that recovery goes smoothly and uninterrupted. I think as a whole, the
international community needs to learn when to act and to intervene during a genocide. It has
the capabilities to and they have seen the consequences of the failures of intervention.
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