The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice without Lawyers (Cambridge University Press)

Rwanda has experienced immense social and political upheaval since 1990, especially after the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of three-quarters of the Tutsi minority in just 100 days. During the genocide, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Rwandans committed crimes including murder and nearly two million refugees fled the country. Since 1994, Rwanda has pursued a comprehensive policy of genocide prosecutions, most notably through the gacaca courts, which comprise 11,000 community-based jurisdictions across the country.

A new book by Dr. Phil Clark represents the first academic study of the entirety of the gacaca process. The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda: Justice without Lawyers (Cambridge University Press) draws on more than seven years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly 500 interviews with participants in trials. This in-depth ethnographic analysis of a complex transitional justice institution explores the ways in which Rwandans interpret the gacaca courts. Its conclusions provide insights into post-genocide justice and reconciliation, as well as the population’s views on the future of Rwanda itself.

More information on the book can be found at: http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521193481&ss=fro.