View article

After taking power in 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front put a government in place. Among its many initiatives, none has gained as much attention as the innovative judicial initiative known as gacaca. In an attempt to guarantee accountability for the genocide, to promote rule of law, and to speed up the prosecution of those accused of genocide crimes, the government developed a novel court system, based loosely on a traditional Rwandan dispute resolution mechanism. Beginning in 2002, elected panels of lay judges in each local community in the country began to hold public hearings to determine what crimes were committed in the community, and then to hold trials for all but the most serious genocide crimes.

As a creative attempt to implement transitional justice in a locally specific manner, gacaca has received considerable attention from the international community. Discussions are underway in Northern …