Originally published on the CGS blog on April 11, 2014.
One hundred days and nearly 1 million men, women, and children alike killed; killed only because of their ethnic backgrounds. Neighbors, friends, coworkers, and in extreme cases spouses, fell victim to what the United Nations has declared “one of the darkest chapters in human history.” Twenty years later Rwandans are moving forward in inspiring ways.
Throughout the African country, villages are emerging; villages in which perpetrators and victims live as neighbors, some even as friends. Known as Reconciliation Villages, these are places where forgiveness is becoming the norm and where life is moving on.
New York Times photographer Pieter Hugo has chronicled several of these reconciliations in a piece titled “Portraits of Reconciliation.” These powerful images capture the work of AMI, a non-profit working with national efforts for reconciliation. These Reconciliation Villages are part of a grassroots effort to address the thousands of accused who have yet to face trial.
In an attempt to reduce the overwhelming number of accused waiting for trial, the national reconciliation efforts re-established community tribunals. This effort allows these communities to try their accused and, as is often the case, reach reconciliation as a means of justice. The Gacaca court system ran from 2005 to 2012, trying more than 1.2 million cases country wide.
Despite the immense struggle, something amazing is occurring: Rwanda is moving forward. Now it’s up to the rest of the world to join them.
Doctrines such as Responsibility to Protect have merely created the illusion of change. The international community continues to fail the world’s innocent; mass killings continue in parts of the world we would rather ignore. As Rwanda moves forward, we must reflect on how far the global community has come in twenty years. More importantly, however, we must realize how far we are from our promise of “never again.”
