ABSTRACT
While the international community was almost entirely absent, over one million Tutsi and moderate Hutu were killed by friends and neighbors in hundred days during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Since then, a variety of methods have been employed to bring the perpetrators to justice and to promote unity, reconciliation, and preservation of memory.
This chapter will explore the ways Rwanda sought to bring those guilty of genocide to justice by looking at the strengths and weaknesses of international and domestic methods of transitional justice, including the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, national courts, and a traditional system called gacaca. It then discusses the important role of civil society organizations in the nation's recovery by highlighting the work of one such organization, Never Again Rwanda in the areas of reconciliation, human rights, and violence prevention.
The transitional justice mechanisms that were put in place are successful, but many challenges remain. Organizations like Never Again Rwanda – which was established to empower youth with opportunities to become active citizens through social justice, governance, peacebuilding, and research interventions – fulfill a vital purpose, addressing needs that government and international organizations cannot meet. Through education, peacebuilding, and other tactics, Never Again Rwanda helps Rwandans obtain justice through the guarantee of nonrecurrence and promotion of truth.
