Since 2001, the Gacaca community courts have been the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Nearly every adult Rwandan has participated in the trials, principally by providing eyewitness testimony concerning genocide crimes. Lawyers are banned from any official involvement, an issue that has generated sustained criticism from human rights organisations and international scepticism regarding Gacaca's efficacy. Drawing on more than six years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly five hundred interviews with participants in trials, this in-depth ethnographic investigation of a complex transitional justice institution explores the ways in which Rwandans interpret Gacaca. Its conclusions provide indispensable insight into post-genocide justice and reconciliation, as well as the population's views on the future of Rwanda itself.

Phil Clark explores the impact of the Gacaca community courts, the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme.
Reviews
'Clark's book is the culmination of nine years of research on and in Rwanda, and it exhibits the combination of breadth and level of detail that is made possible through such an extended engagement with a topic ... Clark provides his readers with a wide horizon of possible interpretations of this unique process, and this book will certainly reorient the debates in future gacaca scholarship.' Christian M. De Vos, International Journal of Transitional Justice



Book Information
ISBN 9781107404106
Author Phil Clark
Format Paperback
Page Count 402
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 540g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 21mm