HOME
home 
about icg 
programs
  Africa 
  Asia 
  Europe 
  Latin America 
  Middle East 
  Issues 
reports
  by region 
  by date 
  by keyword 
crisiswatch 
media
  media releases 
  articles/op. eds 
  speeches 
  media contacts 
contact us 
donate to icg 
vacancies 
links 

 subscribe
 home  programs  africa  central africa  rwanda
search
 
  The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: Justice Delayed

Arusha/Nairobi/Brussels, 7 June 2001: Today’s verdict in Arusha by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in the case of Ignace Bagilishema, is only the ninth in seven years - a lamentable record.



The Tribunal has nine judges, three trial chambers, over 800 employees and an annual budget of 90 million US dollars, but is bogged down by incompetence and bureaucratic infighting. Five judges out of nine have spent more than a year and a half without hearing a substantial case: in March, one had not heard such a matter for 28 months. Between July 1999 and October 2000 the Bagilishema case was the only substantial one before the court.



Not one of the alleged masterminds of the genocide has been brought to trial, including one in prison for five years. There is now a serious risk that those already in custody will be released because they have been held for too long without trial.



In its new report, Tribunal Pénal International pour le Rwanda: L’urgence de juger*, the International Crisis Group calls on the UN Security Council to review the performance of the Tribunal and its judges, demand a trial schedule giving priority to suspects already in custody, and importantly set a final date for the completion of investigations.



ICG Africa Program Co-Director Fabienne Hara said, “ The Rwanda Tribunal is failing to meet its basic mandate – to deliver justice to the people of Rwanda and provide a record of events. We still don’t know who committed the genocide. While the Tribunal claims a significant achievement in jailing the former Prime Minister of Rwanda, the most important suspects have not been arrested.” ICG’s report names a number of key suspects still at large, and the countries where they have found a home.



The most important task is to urgently reform the operation of the Tribunal. However all countries can assist in delivering justice to the victims of the genocide, by extending the jurisdiction of their own courts to embrace international law and try cases of crimes against humanity, regardless of where the crimes took place. The best example is in Belgium, where the Criminal Court is expected today to bring down its verdict in the genocide trial of four Rwandans. Ms Hara said, “The Belgian model, established by a 1993 law that gives its courts universal jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, deserves promotion and encouragement.”



The Rwanda Tribunal is also limited by its mandate, in that it can only prosecute crimes committed in 1994. Since then, crimes against humanity and war crimes have continued to be committed especially as the conflict continued between Rwandan Patriotic Front soldiers and Hutu extremists in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The use of international law in national jurisdictions should be used to ensure these criminals do not escape punishment.

comments


copyright privacy sitemap