Gacaca

Themes: Democracy and Governance, Civil Society Strengthening

• Overview
• Objectives
• Activities
• Outputs
• Results
• Publications
• Future Plans
• Partners
• Program Staff
  

Overview

Gacaca is a traditional form of justice that has been adapted to try the more than 100,000 people imprisoned since the genocide and lead the Rwandan people to reconciliation and healing. The success of the Gacacas will be determined by the level of participation by the Rwandan people. They are being called upon to confess to crimes committed, elect judges and to give testimony to what they saw, heard and experienced during the genocide.

The Gacaca strategy is planned in four phases:

• Phase I focuses on raising awareness about Gacaca and increasing knowledge about the law.
• Phase II is concerned with the election of Gacaca judges.
• Phase III deals with confession, testimony, and reconciliation.
• Phase IV focuses on re-integration of prisoners back into society through a work program.

The five key components are community mobilization, entertainment-education, mass media, advocacy, and capacity building.

Objectives

• Increase knowledge about the Gacaca law and Gacaca jurisdictions
• Increase acceptance of the Gacaca process as a means leading to justice and reconciliation
• Increase the number of prisoners and perpetrators of crimes during the genocide who confess to their crimes
• Bring about wide-spread participation in the Gacaca process through election of Gacaca judges, confession of crimes, and witness testimony
• Gain national and international recognition for the Gacaca process
  

Activities

• Training of COLs. Formative research shows that community leaders have a high degree of influence on personal decision making and are credible sources of information. We are training more than 600 COLs who will serve as "emissaries" of the Gacaca BCC project. COLs are trained in the content of the law and effective communication techniques. COLs are drawn from the Ministry of Justice, Civil Society NGOs, and religious organizations.
• Emissary BCC Sessions. COLs conduct interactive BCC sessions at the community level. They explain the law, why it is important to participate in the process, and distribute Gacaca print materials to encourage participation. In their presentations, the COLs use the "Gacaca kit," which contains research briefs, flipcharts, handouts, badges, and an "aide memoire." BCC sessions are held on an average of 8 to 12 times per month per COL.
• Gacaca Play. A play about Gacaca was produced by one of Rwanda's top theatre troupes and toured throughout the country.
• Weekly radio spots are broadcast on ORINFOR about various Gacaca issues to increase understanding of the election process and encourage participation.
• A bi-monthly newspaper, Inkiko Gacaca, published by the Ministry of Justice with technical assistance from JHU/PCS, reaches the general public and discusses the Gacaca process and trials in detail.
• A bi-weekly radio talk show is produced and aired on Rwanda Radio to complement the spots, and each month call-in programs are broadcast to cover aspects of the Gacaca law.
• Gacaca Soccer Matches. Educational sessions about Gacaca are held during soccer matches. Research conducted to see if this was an appropriate forum to discuss Gacaca found that most people agreed it was.
• Election Campaign. To get Rwandans to participate in the first step of the Gacaca process and elect Gacaca judges, an election campaign was conducted and included posters, stickers, a comic strip, radio spots, and a film that toured the country on the project's cine-mobile.
• Gacaca Song Competition. This competition is being held throughout the country, with winners selected at the provincial level to compete at the national level where the grand prize winners will be announced.
• Baseline Research was conducted to determine pre-campaign attitudes, knowledge and concerns surrounding Gacaca.
  

This pamphlet explains the Gacaca process.

Outputs

• Trained more than 250 COLs, along with 16 master trainers.
• Conducted more than 1,400 BCC sessions.
• Broadcast 20 talk radio programs.
• Distributed more than 13,000 posters, 5,000 stickers, 125,000 foldouts, and 45,000 comic strips.
• Produced educational sessions at 12 soccer events.
• Distributed (monthly) 8,000 copies of Inkiko Gacaca.
• Produced and broadcast film on Gacaca elections six times on Rwandan television.
  

Results

Gacaca elections.

• More than 90% of the Rwandan electorate participated in electing the judges; very few repeats of the election were conducted because of faulty process.
• More than 65,000 people watched the Gacaca film on elections.
• More than 250,000 people read the fold-out on Gacaca elections
• More than 200,000 people read the cartoon strip on elections.
• More than 13,500 people participated in the Gacaca song contest.
• More than 250,000 people have been exposed to Gacaca messages through emissary BCC sessions.
• An estimated 2.7 million people exposed to messages through radio spots, radio talk shows and round tables.
• More than an estimated 60,000 people read the Inkiko Gacaca journal monthly.
• More than an estimated 120,000 listen regularly to the Gacaca radio drama on Gacaca produced by IBUKA.
  
  

Publications/Materials

Perceptions propos de la loi gacaca au Rwanda: résultats d'une étude multiméthode

Perceptions about the gacaca law in Rwanda: evidence from a multi-method study

Photographs pertaining to Gacaca in Rwanda

Future Plans

• Monitoring research to evaluate the evolution in the knowledge level, attitudes and perceptions of Rwandans of the Gacaca jurisdiction.
• A docu-drama film based on real-life stories of survivors and perpetrators of the genocide will be produced, broadcast, and shown on the project's cine-mobile. It will deal with themes of testimony, confession, and reconciliation.
• An additional 300 COLs will be trained. BCC sessions will continue to be conducted throughout the country.
• A Gacaca song CD will be produced. The winning songs of the Gacaca contest will be professionally produced on a CD.
• Soccer matches where Gacaca themes are discussed will continue to be played.
• The Gacaca play will be produced in video format and distributed.
• End-line research will evaluate the impact of the activities and determine if the objectives of the campaign have been reached.
  

Partners

Ministry of Justice
Center for Conflict Management
ORINFOR (Rwandan National Information Office)
IBUKA
CLADHO
Muslim Association of Rwanda

Program Staff

Jane Brown, jbrown@jhuccp.org

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