Donor‐Driven Justice and its Discontents: The Case of Rwanda

Abstract

Never before was a process of doing justice driven so strongly from the outside as in post-genocide Rwanda. Not only did the 1994 genocide lead to the founding of the International Tribunal, but it also induced intensive donor involvement in domestic attempts to 'break the cycle of hatred' -from the work done by the national courts and the Unity Commission to the gacaca. In this sense, Rwanda became the forerunner of a much wider trend, towards a judicialization of international relations, for instance through an emphasis on international criminal law. However, the past decade of donor involvement in Rwanda in general, and the case of the gacaca in particular, show us how this specific -technocratic, de-contextualized -emphasis on justice might seem innocuous at first glance, but carries dangers within it, particularly if it takes place in an increasingly autocratic and oppressive political environment like that of contemporary Rwanda.

What do Human Rights Mean in Development?

“…For example, in Aiding Violence , Uvin ( 1998 ) argues that prior to the genocide Rwanda was seen as a model developing country, but that aid agencies reproduced the offi cial racism and a sociopolitical system based on exclusion (of Hutu) which amounted to 'structural violence'. Uvin states that all aid is political and went on to write Human Rights and Development ( 2004 ) 'Judicialisation of development' (Oomen 2005 ) Relates to the rising amounts of aid spent on rule of law, governance, and in post-confl ict settings on reconstructing courts, training judicial offi cials, and confl ict resolution. Legal pluralism brings together development and human rights concerns: local justice practices may help deal with disputes about property and land but raise concerns about fair trials, women's rights, and forms of punishment Strategic framing (Miller 2010 ) The strategic use of human rights at an operational level by, for example, faith-based or left-leaning agencies.…”

Transitional Justice as Global Project: critical reflections

“…This can be seen in the emergence of the rights to truth and reparation under customary international law, in the transnational proliferation of truth commissions, which are quasi-judicial bodies mandated to investigate gross violations of human rights, and in the emphasis within the international donor community on 'doing justice' over other forms of development. 16 Oomen convincingly argues that one of the reasons for the prominence of the legalist paradigm is that law is perceived as a safe, neutral, universal way to engage with other countries. 17 But these are false and problematic assumptions about the law that transitional justice must guard against.…”

Community‐based restorative transitional justice in Sierra Leone

“…Some scholars worry that gacaca has become a tool of Tutsi justice against Hutus, which thus contributes to (rather than diminishes) ethnic polarization (Corey & Joireman, 2004, cited in Betts, 2005. Oomen (2005) argues that gacaca has become a politicized tool serving the government in power, and that regular people have lost faith in the justice-bringing potential of gacaca (pp. 905-906).…”