ICTR’s performance “lamentable”, think tank says

The Brussels-based think tank, International Crisis Group, on Friday issued a report describing the performance of the ICTR as “lamentable”. It said that seven years after its establishment, the ICTR had handed down verdicts on only nine individuals and not one of the alleged masterminds of the 1994 genocide - including Colonel Theoneste Bagosora who has been in prison for five years - had been brought to trial. However, the report said there were some points in the ICTR’s favour. “It has provided indisputable recognition of the Rwanda genocide and has politically neutralised the ‘Hutu Power’ movement’s agenda of Tutsi extermination.” But, the report went on, “seven years on, it has still not been able to shed light on the design, mechanisms, chronology, organisation and financing of the genocide, nor has it answered the key question: who committed the genocide?”.

“Compared to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the ICTR has suffered from international disinterest and a shocking lack of media attention,” the report stated. “There is now a grave risk that those in custody will be released because of the failure to bring them to trial after a period of years.” It said there was “less and less chance” of the ICTR having an impact on present events. “To tolerate such a situation, and support it for too long, would be a second betrayal of the people of Rwanda.”

“For the majority of Rwandans, the ICTR is a useless institution, an expedient mechanism for the international community to absolve itself of its responsibilities for the genocide and its tolerance of the crimes of the RPF [ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front].” The report listed a number of recommendations including setting deadlines for investigations, establishing priorities and bringing to trial those already in custody. It also said the operations of the ICTR must be urgently reformed and judges must have “real professional experience” in criminal justice. “Once the major genocide trials are complete, the ICTR must undertake investigations of crimes committed in 1994 by the RPF,” it added. [Click here for full report: http://www.intl-crisis-group.org/]