Honest and compassionate reflection twenty years after Genocide

A symbolic torch was lit at the Kigali Genocide Memorial last week. The flame’s lighting launched a three-month period set aside for activities that will lead to the 20th commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi on April 7. The torch will traverse the country’s 30 districts as Rwandans reflect on what went wrong 20 years ago.Reflection is important. It provides an opportunity for individual and collective soul searching about a particular issue. For the assessment to be meaningful, however, it must be genuine. If done properly, the on-going reflection will bring about the desired results of ‘increasing awareness about the causes of the Genocide, its consequences, and how Rwandans can continue to move forward,’ as Ms. Louise Mushikiwabo, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Government Spokesperson pointed out on Tuesday.Let’s start from the beginning. The Genocide has had far-reaching consequences for all Rwandans. The moral weights we each carry may differ, but its impact is crosscutting. It is, after all, the mass participation in it and the collective sharing of the burden of its consequences that led to the decision to favour restorative over retributive justice.Restorative justice is a forward looking approach to conflict resolution that places a premium on building a common future, in collective efforts to leave the past behind. It is in opting for restorative justice that unity and reconciliation became key pillars of post-Genocide nation building. It was the right thing to do.This choice also created two parallel dynamics, positive and negative. First, it is incontestable that reconciliation and unity have been the foundation for the socio-economic gains registered thus far.On the negative side, its emphasis created the moral basis for impunity.Following the Genocide, for those not satisfied that this approach was ‘real’ justice, resort to revenge against suspected killers because “government was not doing anything” became an option. Moreover, as the Gacaca trials were approaching, some individuals anticipating that they would be brought to account for their actions during the 100 dark days pre-empted the long arm of the law by hunting for potential witnesses. Cases of survivor killings were reported in the media.Further still, many of those found guilty during the Gacaca trials were sentenced to perform duties of general public interest (TIG) in lieu of jail time.One can also argue that the attitude that you can kill and get off lightly explains the murders that persist across the country, where the smallest of quarrels are resolved by use of a machete. There is no doubt about it; Gacaca was hugely successful in responding to the question of what to do about mass participation in crime. However, on balance it is hardly debatable that the quest for justice was, for the most part, sacrificed at the altar of unity and reconciliation, justified as it was. And much as tremendous progress has been registered in the past 20 years as a result of investing in unity and reconciliation, great challenges remain.Perhaps most challenging is the belief that Rwandans would commit genocide again, if given a chance. Forty per cent of respondents in a study for the 2010 Rwanda Reconciliation Barometer agreed to that statement. Also, cases of genocide denial, although on a downward trend, continue to be reported to the authorities; and there are still survivors today who are afraid to return to their ancestral homes for fear of harassment, as their property lies idle or is exploited free of charge by others.It suggests that, as a society, we are yet to fully grasp the moral elements around Genocide and account as well as take responsibility for the tragedy that befell us twenty years ago.It is worse at the international level. Perpetrators continue to roam Western capitals undisturbed. Just last week, the Dutch Minister of Immigration acknowledged this and spoke of the challenges in attempting to extradite Genocide suspects who have acquired Dutch citizenship.France will try its first Genocide case in two decades on February 4. In the United Kingdom, four former burgomasters were arrested last May, suspected of having committed Genocide crimes in Rwanda. But British courts will neither try nor extradite them to face trial in Rwanda.As a final observation, as restorative justice helped rehabilitate Rwandans, it also somewhat created the idea that it is always possible to run away with murder. In a sense it undermines the potential for ‘honest and compassionate reflection’ on the question of Genocide. It blunts the impact of soul searching on efforts to create a national consciousness around one of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century.

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Honest and compassionate reflection twenty years after Genocide