ABSTRACT
Background: the 1994 genocide and its aftermath
Rwanda and the ICTR
Rwanda’s participation in the international human rights regime: avoiding costly commitment
Rwanda and the ICC: assessing the explanatory power of the credible threat theory
Conclusion
This case study examines Rwanda’s refusal to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) and how the court’s enforcement mechanism may have influenced that decision. Unlike the states previously studied, Rwanda is a non-democratic state with poor human rights practices and weak domestic law enforcement institutions. 1 In 1994, Rwanda experienced a horrendous genocide that left approximately 800,000 Tutsi men, women, and children dead at the hands of the Hutu majority. Even after the genocide, Rwanda’s human rights practices remained poor. Rwanda’s World Bank Rule of Law Scale ratings are low, and other anecdotal evidence indicates that Rwanda may not have the kinds of judicial institutions that would enable it to prosecute mass atrocities fairly. 2