The Right of Victims of International Crimes to Reparations in the Aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

University of Groningen

The Right of Victims of International Crimes to Reparations in the Aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Sezirahiga, Yves

IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below.

Document Version

Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record

Publication date: 2021

Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database

Citation for published version (APA):

Sezirahiga, Y. (2021). The Right of Victims of International Crimes to Reparations in the Aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. University of Groningen.

Copyright

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).

Take-down policy

If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.

Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum.

Propositions ‘The Right of Victims of International Crimes to

Reparations in the Aftermath of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda’

1. Although victims’ right to reparations has gained international recognition and is an integral part of international criminal justice, the standards of reparations as defined in international law are full of unattainable expectations.

2. The enormity of the harm caused by such crimes, the high number of victims affected and the lack of resources to respond effectively to the victims’ needs limit the ability of courts to address legal claims for reparations by the victims.

3. Measures aiming at addressing the harm suffered by the victims of mass violations of human rights need to be designed in response to context-specific societal needs. The success of the reparation programs depends mainly on how they address the background, context, nature and consequences of the conflict.

4. For all victim-survivors I interviewed the Gacaca system was a ‘bitter medicine’.

5. Interviewed victim-survivors view the government decision of maximum accountability of genocide perpetrators as an admission of the wrongful acts committed against them and a recognition of the pain and losses they suffered.

6. Accountability of perpetrators is a key feature of victims’ right to reparations. It leads not only to the sanctioning of perpetrators but also to the disclosure of the truth. It brings the facts of past atrocities into public awareness and thus officially acknowledges that crimes were committed and that victims were wronged.

7. Shared positive attitudes among Rwandans towards national

identity as an alternative to ethnic identification derives – on the side of the Tutsi community - from the need to get rid of the ethnicity for which their relatives and friends were killed and - on the side of the Hutu community - from the need to restore their self-esteem by getting rid of the ethnicity in the name of which the genocide was committed.

8. ‘Once a victim, always a victim. That's the law.’ Quote by Thomas Hardy.