Over view and scope

19-12-2009

The purpose of the tribunal was to reconcile Rwandans and bring the culprits of this mass violence and tragedies to justice. Victims of the tragedies would receive restitution at least by knowing that perpetrators of human rights violations, and genocide crimes would be prosecuted and future atrocities would be prevented.

The tribunal has been in existence for the past 11 years and it is scheduled to come to a close by the end of 2010. Unfortunately, during its tenure, the tribunal has demonstrated failure to properly and adaquately carry out its mission. It has miserably failed to provide justice and reconciliation after the mass tragedies of the early 1990s in Rwanda.
Furthermore, it is closing in the midst of unreconciled conflicts and tensions. It has raised more questions and more concerns than it has ever addressed. An overwhelming majority of the people detained at the creation of the tribunal remain incarcarated without a possibility of a fair trial in sight. It is imperative that the UN and the tribunal find a practical solution to all the unresolved matters that have been present since its inception.
The Tribunal’s Legacy

While it may be percieved by some in the international community as a progressive solution to the Central African nation’s problems due to its strict scrutiny and harsh prosecution of Hutu men and women alleged to be globally responsible for the Rwandan atrocities, on closer inspection, the tribunal has failed to demonstrate in the least bit principles of fairness, justice, and most importantly objective, unbiased actions towards the tribunal’s goals. On the contrary, the tribunal has failed in the following ways:

Reconciliation:


The tribunal has demonstrated that its intention (based on its current record), was not to reconcile Rwandans but to act as a punitive political tool for the current Rwanda government. Instead, as the director of Human Rights Watch recently put it, the tribunal has become the victor’s court.

Investigating Major Human Rights Violations:


The tribunal sabotaged efforts to adequately address conflicts that led to the culmination of gross human rights violations that tragically took away numerous innocent lives. These events include failure to research and prosecute the assassination of Rwanda’s former President, and former Burundian President, the events whose occurrence is widely believed to have sparked the 1994 carnage.

The tribunal has also predominantly participated in selective justice and prosecution by extracting and isolating events which are politically correct to prosecute while disregarding the proper context under which these events occurred.
Namely, the tribunal refused to acknowledge and to prosecute the major war crimes committed in 1994 against Rwandans by the RPF/A (the current ruling party in Rwanda) including political assassinations against their opponents inside Rwanda, massacres of populations and illegal transportation and storage of weapons inside Rwanda in 1994. These major human rights violations, blatant crime against humanity, were a major part of what instigated the tragedy of 1994.

Serving as a Rebel Army’s Political Tool:


Immediately following the assassinations of two presidents was the beginning of the tribunal’s supposed jurisdiction, a period in which the RPF/A actively participated in conflict, in war, in committing genocide crimes, with the goal of political control of the small country. Coincidently, the Tribunal has been instrumental in strictly prosecuting the RPF’s enemies while disregarding all of the crimes committed by the RPF during the tribunal’s period of jurisdiction.

Legitimizing the RPF/A:


It is by no coincidence, and no passive action that the RPF overtook the control of the government and controlled the citizens. The RPF was involved directly in the mass killings of innocent civilians while waging war against government forces in 1994. Shortly after the cease fire in 1994, the RPF took power, and with impunity proceeded to massive reprisal killings while ruling the small African nation. The tribunal turned a blind eye on the RPF/A’s crimes despite the fact that they were just as much a necessary cause for the existence of the tribunal as the former government officials crimes.

Creating and Reinforcing the Culture of Impunity:


The tribunal’s refusal to prosecute the RPF/A’s crimes created and preserved a culture of impunity that has become rampant in the African Great Lakes Region. Each time the tribunal refused to acknowledge the RPF/A’s crimes, it reinforced the notion that political capital is more important than justice and that mass murder, crimes against humanity and war crimes can go unpunished if people responsible for such crimes are (a) winners in a certain conflict.

The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a “time”, yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine