Achieving Justice and Rights through Social Development: Suggestions from Rwandan Women Survivors of Rape during Genocide

Sources differ in their counts of the number of rapes that occurred during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, but a conservative estimate is that two to three hundred thousand women experienced this human rights violation (Amick, 2011; Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada, 2003). The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) tried perpetrators for crimes against humanity and crimes of genocide and the Rwandan national courts heard some of the cases against organizers that did not go to the ICTR. In addition, a domestic transitional justice system, gacaca, established in all local communities, tried cases of individual rapes that occurred during the genocide. From 2008 to 2010, the gacaca courts reviewed 6,608 cases of rape, far less than the potential hundreds of thousands of cases that could have been brought by survivors (Amick 2011).When this article was written in 2014, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which borders Rwanda, was known as the rape capital of the world (BBC, 2010; CNN, 2011). In 2011, the United Nations and the Guardian newspaper reported that forty-eight women were being raped every hour, and some type of sexual violence was occurring every minute; 1,152 women were raped every day, a rate twenty-six times the previous incidence of reported by the UN (UN News Centre, 2013; Wolfe, 2013). In addition, reporters and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) declared a rape crisis in Syria (Wolfe, 2013). The International Rescue Committee sent a special delegation to Syria in November of 2012 and asked a representative sample of the six hundred thousand registered refugees in countries neighboring Syria their reasons for fleeing Syria; the number one reason for families was (International Rescue Committee, 2013).This article presents a qualitative portion of data gathered during an exploratory mixed methods study of Rwandan women who survived sexual violence during the 1994 genocide. One of the study's major research questions asked participants to provide suggestions to improve the gacaca and other transitional justice systems attempting to address cases of sexual violence. Data collection occurred in three provinces-the Western, Eastern, and Capital Districts- including 106 survey participants and 19 follow-up interviews. The data from the follow-up interviews represent the emphasis of this article, the first known empirical study asking this question directly of survivors who had experience with the court.Countries such as Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo may have very specific cultural and political differences from Rwanda. However, aspects of the experiences of survivors may be generalizable: fears of reporting and expectations of how the courts fulfill promises of reparations. The issues raised by female Rwandan survivors of sexual violence indicate that transitional justice systems should give higher priority to economic justice and reparations and encourage greater integration of social development strategies rather than reliance solely on retributive justice.Literature Review of Judicial and Economic Justice Models, Rape, and the Rwandan CaseReaders must consider the suggestions for improved transitional justice systems by female Rwandan survivors of sexual violence contextually and reflect on how their opinions might add to the discourse. Before presenting data, this section will define and explain transitional justice and its goals, as well as the gacaca system. It will present a brief literature review on reparations for women and an overview of the call for an integration of development goals and transitional justice.Defining Transitional Justice and Outlining Its GoalsIn post-conflict states, prevention of future violence and efforts to sustain peace often become priorities for governments and local communities. In the past twenty to twenty-five years, nations, states, and international institutions have developed systems to promote official accountability for violence and human rights abuses. …