scholarly journals Techniques of Neutralization and Identity Work Among Accused Genocide Perpetrators

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 584-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Bryant ◽  
Emily Brooke Schimke ◽  
Hollie Nyseth Brehm ◽  
Christopher Uggen
Keyword(s):  
Impression Management ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Identity Negotiation ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Comprehensive Understanding ◽  
Techniques Of Neutralization ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Explanatory Styles ◽  
High Social Status

Abstract Following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, many defendants on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) testified on their own behalf. This article analyzes transcripts of their testimonies to learn (1) how defendants discuss the grave crimes of which they are accused, and (2) how their explanatory styles allow them to rationalize their actions and negotiate their tarnished identities. We find that defendants employ Gresham Sykes and David Matza’s (1957) classic techniques of neutralization as a means of rationalization, impression management, and identity negotiation. Nevertheless, these techniques, along with those developed in the decades since, do not capture all aspects of defendants’ accounts. We thus identify additional techniques of neutralization to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how defendants account for their actions. By extending this classic literature, we call attention to the situational context of international trials, the nature of the crime of genocide, the relatively high social status many defendants once occupied, and existing narratives surrounding the legitimacy of the ICTR. In doing so, our analysis contributes to understandings of narratives of violence and accused genocide perpetrators.

Transjudicial Dialogue and the Rwandan Genocide: Aspects of Antagonism and Complementarity

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 543-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
LEILA SADAT
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Universal Jurisdiction ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Normative Structure ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
International Legal Order ◽  
Atrocity Crimes

AbstractThe Rwandan genocide remains one of the most horrific atrocities of the twentieth century, resulting in the death of an estimated 500–800,000 human beings, massacred over a 100-day period. In the fourteen years since the genocide, attempts at justice and reconciliation in Rwanda have involved a delicate interplay between national legal systems and the international legal order. This article examines three fora in which Rwandans have been tried for involvement in the genocide: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Rwandan courts including Gacaca tribunals, and French attempts to exercise universal jurisdiction. Using Rwanda as a case study, the article illustrates the issues, concerns, and difficulties that arise when multiple jurisdictions assert a right to exercise criminal jurisdiction over the perpetrators of serious atrocity crimes. Beginning with a discussion of the political context, this article considers what the competing narratives and litigation in various fora have meant for the project of international and transnational criminal justice. Cases involving the commission of atrocities pose unique challenges for the international legal order. As the normative structure of international criminal law has arguably been strengthened, political constraints increasingly come to the fore. As illustrated by Rwanda, universal jurisdiction or other bases of jurisdiction may remain necessary vehicles for justice and reconciliation, or, at the very least, they may serve as a catalyst for change in Rwanda itself.

scholarly journals The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda: A Paper Umbrella in the Rain? Initial Pitfalls and Brighter Prospects

2004 ◽  
Vol 73 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackson Nyamuya Maogoto
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Complicated Process ◽  
The Many ◽  
Culture Of Impunity

The tragedy which befell Rwanda in 1994 deserves a special place in the bloodstained pages of history. The Rwandan genocide merits distinction primarily because of its shocking ef ficiency, its scale and its proportional dimensions among the victim population. The Security Council's resolution establishing the ICTR articulates a set of decisions, assumptions, wishes, and objectives. Primarily, the States that voted in favour of the creation of the ICTR indicated that the root of the problem was individual violations of international criminal law. Only one State that voted for the resolution did not equate ipso facto ICTR actions with justice. That State considered the ICTR only one of the many tasks at hand for the international community. The ICTR was merely a vehicle of justice, 'but it is hardly designed as a vehicle for reconciliation . . . Reconciliation is a much more complicated process' (Czech Republic). Interestingly, Rwanda, which voted against the resolution, spoke of the problem in terms of a culture of impunity . The UN paid little to no heed to the subtle, but extremely different way in which the problem was characterized and the implications this would have on the type of tool needed to deal with that problem.

scholarly journals Archiving (In)justice: Building Archives and Imagining Community

2020 ◽  
pp. 030582982093517
Author(s):  
Henry Alexander Redwood
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Post Colonial

This article explores the role that archives play in the constitution and governance of the international community. First, drawing on post-colonial scholarship, it develops a framework to explicate the link between archive and community, centring on questions of voice, identity and responsibility. It then examines how the archive can be analysed, pointing additionally to the importance of the archive’s materiality. Second, these ideas are explored through a reading of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda’s (ICTR) archive, which helped rebuild the international community in the wake of its failure to prevent the Rwandan genocide. By providing a detailed reading of the ICTR’s records, and drawing on the framework established in the first section, the article shows that the archive constructed a liberal, patriarchal and colonial understanding of the international community.

scholarly journals Sexual Violence as an Afterthought: Securing Justice for Sexual Violence Victims in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kellie-Sue Hoy
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Institutional Culture ◽  
Tripartite Model ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Voice

<p>Using Nancy Fraser’s (2007a) tripartite model of justice as a theoretical backdrop, this thesis critically evaluates the United Nation’s (UN) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in relation to how this Tribunal has both secured and limited opportunities to ’do’ justice for sexual violence (SV) victims. This thesis applies a gendered approach to Fraser’s model, and considers how justice has been secured by women, based on principles of recognition, redistribution and representation. Using documentary methods, the thesis analyses ICTR cases concerning SV, to determine how this Tribunal has responded to SV committed against women and girls throughout the Rwandan genocide. This thesis demonstrates that, while the Tribunal has secured some level of justice for SV victims by successfully indicting, prosecuting and punishing some individuals responsible for SV, these crimes have been constructed and responded to in ad hoc and skewed ways. The analysis shows that crimes of SV, as well as its victims, are underrepresented in the ICTR. It also demonstrates that where SV has been addressed, the institutional culture and framework of this Tribunal has marginalised the voice of women, and allowed for discriminatory and insensitive court practices to permeate judicial proceedings. SV victims, who continue to struggle with redistributive injustices, have been negatively impacted by these ICTR practices</p>

“We Are All Humans”

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-187
Author(s):  
Gyongyi Horvath
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Primary School ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Primary School Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Shared Humanity ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Students Attitudes

Can a comic effectively convey a message of empathy, challenge attitudes, and render accessible one of the most violent episodes in history to children as young as 8 years old? This essay examines the possibility via an analysis of primary school students’ interpretation of 100 Days in the Land of the Thousand Hills, a comic developed by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) about the Rwandan genocide. It demonstrates how the comic challenges students’ attitudes, and in turn how their reading and discussion of the text leads to the creation of new perspectives that shape how they relate to one another. In doing so, it explores the shifts in thinking and normalization of empathy via a profound realization of shared humanity, shedding light on the transformation experienced by the children through their individual and shared interaction with the comic.

Genocide as a Fact of Common Knowledge

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 885-898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina HB Jørgensen
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Legal Requirements ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals

AbstractJudicial notice has become a widely used tool in the practice of international criminal tribunals but its use has always been constrained by the fair trial rights of the accused. This article considers the possible impact on those rights of the decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Appeals Chamber to take judicial notice of the genocide in Rwanda as a notorious fact against the backdrop of the legal requirements for judicial notice as a fact of common knowledge and as an adjudicated fact. The question whether it would have been more appropriate to notice the Rwandan genocide as an adjudicated fact is addressed in the context of the implications for other instances of genocide, for example Srebrenica.

scholarly journals Sexual Violence as an Afterthought: Securing Justice for Sexual Violence Victims in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kellie-Sue Hoy
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Institutional Culture ◽  
Tripartite Model ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Judicial Proceedings ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
The Voice

<p>Using Nancy Fraser’s (2007a) tripartite model of justice as a theoretical backdrop, this thesis critically evaluates the United Nation’s (UN) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in relation to how this Tribunal has both secured and limited opportunities to ’do’ justice for sexual violence (SV) victims. This thesis applies a gendered approach to Fraser’s model, and considers how justice has been secured by women, based on principles of recognition, redistribution and representation. Using documentary methods, the thesis analyses ICTR cases concerning SV, to determine how this Tribunal has responded to SV committed against women and girls throughout the Rwandan genocide. This thesis demonstrates that, while the Tribunal has secured some level of justice for SV victims by successfully indicting, prosecuting and punishing some individuals responsible for SV, these crimes have been constructed and responded to in ad hoc and skewed ways. The analysis shows that crimes of SV, as well as its victims, are underrepresented in the ICTR. It also demonstrates that where SV has been addressed, the institutional culture and framework of this Tribunal has marginalised the voice of women, and allowed for discriminatory and insensitive court practices to permeate judicial proceedings. SV victims, who continue to struggle with redistributive injustices, have been negatively impacted by these ICTR practices</p>

Procedural Developments at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 351-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamfuh Y.N. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Case Law ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Rwandan Genocide

AbstractThe author seeks to expose the fact that the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath has many lessons for African leaders, especially that modern international criminal law is committed to punishing perpetrators of heinous crimes. The procedural processes at the Arusha International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda have also operated a successful jurisprudence that has immensely contributed to the development of modern international law. This article looks at the historical context of the genocide, the jurisprudence and case law of the ICTR, the novel concepts that have contributed to the growth of international law, and the significance of rebuilding a post-genocide Rwanda.

Individual Criminal Responsibility in International Human Rights Law: The Contribution of the International Criminal Court

1970 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Mohammed
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Responsibility ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
The Road ◽  
Individual Criminal Responsibility

The road to developing an international institutional capacity to prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide has been a long one, and has in many ways concluded with the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC). By looking at the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), as well as the ICC, this paper traces the evolution of the concept of individual criminal responsibility to its present incarnation. It argues that while the ICC presents its own unique ‘added value’ to the prosecution of international criminals, its application of justice continues to be biased by the influence of powerful states.

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