The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; ; ) was an international ad-hoc court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to adjudicate people charged for the Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan citizens in nearby states, between 1 January and 31 December 1994. The court eventually convicted 61 individuals and acquitted 14. In 1995, it became located in Arusha, Tanzania, under Resolution 977. From 2006, Arusha also became the location of the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. In 1998 the operation of the tribunal was expanded in Resolution 1165. Through several resolutions, the Security Council called on the tribunal to complete its investigations by end of 2004, complete all trial activities by end of 2008, and complete all work in 2012. The tribunal had jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of Common Article Three and Additional Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions (which deals with internal conflicts).
The first trial, of Jean-Paul Akayesu, began in 1997. Jean Kambanda, interim Prime Minister, pleaded guilty. According to the ICTR's Completion Strategy, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1503, all first-instance cases were to have completed trial by the end of 2008 (this date was later extended to the end of 2009) and all work was to be completed by 2010. As of 2009, the tribunal had finished 50 trials and convicted 29 accused persons, and another 11 trials were in progress and 14 individuals were awaiting trial in detention; but the prosecutor intended to transfer 5 to national jurisdiction for trial. 13 others were still at large, some suspected to be dead. The United Nations Security Council called upon the tribunal to finish its work by 31 December 2014 to prepare for its closure and transfer of its responsibilities to the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT or Mechanism) which had begun functioning for the ICTR branch on 1 July 2012. The Tribunal was officially closed on 31 December 2015.
The tribunal's failure to prosecute war crimes committed by the Rwandan Patriotic Front or try RPF leader Paul Kagame was widely criticized, to the point of being characterized as "victor's justice".
Genocide against Tutsi The Rwandan genocide refers to the mass slaughter of more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu by government-directed gangs of Hutu extremist soldiers and police in Rwanda. The duration of the 1994 genocide is usually described as 100 days, beginning on April 6 and ending in mid-July.
The tension between the majority Hutu and the minority Tutsi had developed over time but was particularly emphasized late in the nineteenth century and early in the twentieth century as a result of German and Belgian colonialism over Rwanda. The ethnic categorization of the two was an imposed and an arbitrary construct based more on physical characteristics than ethnic background. However, the social differences between the Hutu and the Tutsi have traditionally allowed the Tutsi, with a strong pastoralist tradition, to gain social, economic, and political ascendancy over the Hutu, who were primarily agriculturalists. The distinction under colonial powers allowed Tutsis to establish ruling power until a Hutu revolution in 1959 abolished the Tutsi monarchy by 1961.
The hostility between the two groups continued, as "additional rounds of ethnic tension and violence flared periodically and led to mass killings of Tutsi in Rwanda, such as in 1963, 1967, and 1973". The establishment of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and its invasion from Uganda furthered ethnic hatred. A ceasefire in these hostilities led to negotiations between the government and the RPF in 1992.
On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying then-President Juvenal Habyarimana, and Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi was shot down, killing everyone on board. The Hutu held the RPF accountable and immediately began the genocide, targeted at both Tutsis and Hutu moderates.
Most of the killing during the Rwandan genocide was carried out by the radical Hutu groups known as the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi. Radio broadcasts also were an integral part of the genocide, which further fueled the genocide by encouraging Hutu civilians to kill their Tutsi neighbours, labeled as "cockroaches" in need of extermination. Despite its colossal scale, particularly within such a short period of time, the genocide was carried out almost entirely by hand, usually with the utilization of machetes and clubs. Various atrocities committed include the rape of thousands of Tutsi women, as well as the dismemberment and disfigurement of victims. Frequently the killers were people the victims knew personally—neighbors, workmates, former friends, sometimes even relatives through marriage. At least 500,000 Tutsis were killed, and approximately 2 million refugees (mostly Hutus) left for refugee camps of neighboring Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and former Zaire.
Establishment of the ICTR The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda is regarded as a major failure."Rwanda/UN: Acknowledging Failure", AfricaFocus Bulletin (compiling several individual reports), March 31, 2004 The international response to the Rwandan genocide was poor. For weeks, the major power nations denied that a genocide was taking place in Rwanda. The United States refused to call the incident genocide because using the term would make an obligation for the United States to send troops, which it was reluctant to do after several of its soldiers were killed during a humanitarian mission in Somalia the previous year. Finally in July 1994, after the genocide was over, the UN Security Council called for an investigation of the events, and acted to establish an international criminal tribunal to prosecute those individuals most responsible for the genocide. Adopting Resolution 955, the Security Council created the ICTR on 8 November 1994 and the ICTR would also deal with other crimes against international humanitarian law committed on the territory of Rwanda and neighboring states between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994.
ICTR structure
Chambers The Tribunal had four "chambers" – three to hear trials, and one to hear appeals. There were 16 permanent judges, seven of whom where members of the Appeals Chamber. In addition, the General Assembly elected a pool of 18 ad litem judges, from which the Secretary-General could appoint judges, at the request of the Tribunal’s President, to serve in the Trial Chambers in one or more trials. No more than nine ad litem judges could serve in the Tribunal at any one time.
Presidents All ICTR Presidents were elected in plenary session by their fellow judges. The ICTR statute stipulated that the Tribunal's President must be a permanent judge and a member of a Trial Chamber (Article 13, par. 1 and 2). However, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1995 made ad litem judges eligible for election as President.
+NameStateTenureReferencesVagn Joensen2012–2015Khalida Rachid Khan2011–2012Dennis Byron2007–2011 Erik Møse2003–2007Navi Pillay1999–2003Laïty Kama1995–1999
Vice-Presidents The ICTR’s statute did not establish a vice-presidency, but Article 14 provided for the judges to adopt Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Rule 20 established a vice-presidency with two-year terms, with at most one reelection.
+NameStateTenureReferencesFlorence Rita Arrey2012–2012Vagn Joensen2011–2012Dennis Byron2011–2011Khalida Rachid Khan2007–2011 Arlette Ramaroson2005–2007 2003–2005Erik Møse1999–2003Yakov Ostrovsky1995–1999
Trial Chamber I
Judge Country StatusIn OfficeLaïty KamaPermanent1995–1999Lennart AspegrenPermanent1995–1999Navi PillayPermanent1995–2003Asoka de Zoysa GunawardanaPermanent1999–2001Erik MøsePermanent1999–2009Mparany RajohnsonAd litem judge2009–2013
Trial Chamber II Judge Country StatusIn OfficeLaïty KamaPermanent1999–2001William SekulePermanent1999–2015Mehmet GüneyPermanent1999–2001Andrésia VazPermanent2001Solomy Balungi BossaAd litem judgeLee Gacugia Muthoga Ad litem judgeSeon Ki Park Ad litem judge
Trial Chamber III + Judge Country StatusIn OfficeLloyd G. WilliamsPermanent1999–2004Yakov OstrovskyPermanent1999–2003Pavel DolencPermanent1999–2003Florence Rita ArreyPermanentAd litem judgeBakhtiyar R.TuzmukhamedovPermanentRobert FremrPermanentVagn JoensenPermanent
Appeals Chamber Judge Country StatusIn OfficeTheodor Meron Presiding judgePatrick Robinson MemberFausto Pocar MemberLiu Daqun MemberMehmet Güney MemberCarmel Agius MemberArlette Ramaroson MemberAndrésia Vaz MemberKhalida Rashid Khan Member
Office of the Prosecutor
The Office of the Prosecutor was divided into various units at the height of its activity, including the Investigations Division and the Prosecution Division: The Prosecution Division was responsible for prosecuting all cases before the Tribunal. Headed by a Chief of Prosecutions. The Investigations Division was responsible for collecting evidence implicating individuals in crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994. Headed by a Chief of Investigations.
Prosecutors +ProsecutorCountryTenureUNSC ResolutionRichard Goldstonelate 1994 – 30 Sep 1996Resolution 936Louise Arbour1 Oct 1996 – 15 Sep 1999Resolution 1047Carla Del Ponte5 Sep 1999 – 14 Sep 2003Resolution 1259Hassan Bubacar Jallow15 Sep 2003 – 31 Dec 2015Resolution 1505
The Registry The Registry was responsible for the overall administration and management of the ICTR. It also performed other legal functions assigned to it by the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and was the Tribunal's channel of communication.
The Registry was headed by the Registrar, who was the Representative of the UN Secretary-General. Bongani Christopher Majola of South Africa was Registrar. after January 2013.
The Case of Jean-Paul Akayesu
After an intense and precisely targeted campaign of a number of international non-governmental organizations, which aimed at raising awareness of gendered violence at the ICTR,Klaus Bachmann, Thomas Sparrow-Botero, Peter Lambertz: When justice meets politics. Independence and Autonomy of ad hoc international criminal tribunals, Peter Lang Int 2013 the trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu established the legal precedent that genocidal rape falls within the act of genocide. "...the [Trial] Chamber finds that in most cases, the rapes of Tutsi women in Taba, were accompanied with the intent to kill those women. ... In this respect, it appears clearly to the chamber that the acts of rape and sexual violence, as other acts of serious bodily and mental harm committed against the Tutsi, reflected the determination to make Tutsi women suffer and to mutilate them even before killing them, the intent being to destroy the Tutsi group while inflicting acute suffering on its members in the process."The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu (Trial Judgement), ICTR-96-4-T, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), 2 September 1998, p. 166 ¶.733. Available at: unhcr.org (accessed 13 April 2010) Presiding judge Navanethem Pillay said in a statement after the verdict: "From time immemorial, rape has been regarded as spoils of war. Now it will be considered a war crime. We want to send out a strong message that rape is no longer a trophy of war."Quoted in citation for honorary doctorate, Rhodes University, April 2005 accessed at March 23, 2007
Media Case
The trial against "hate media" began on 23 October 2000. It was charged with the prosecution of the media which encouraged the genocide of 1994.