The pursuit of peace through international justice? The UN and the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

The recent articles published on the occasion of the closing down of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in December 2015 have all emphasized the conflicted legacy of this tribunal. While stressing the tribunal’s fundamental role in the fight against impunity, the critics cited the low number of cases (75) and the ‘one-sided’ prosecution policy. Since its creation by the United Nations in the direct aftermath of the Tutsi genocide perpetrated between April and July 1994, the tribunal’s history has indeed been one of tensions and controversies but also, and most significantly, of pioneering justice. This paper discusses the intense debates that led to the establishment of the ICTR by the UN Security Council in November 1994, with the aim to contribute to “peace” and “reconciliation” in Rwanda – as stated in the Resolution creating the tribunal. While addressing the political aspects of these debates through diplomatic archives, it also specifically looks at the essential role of non-governmental organisations in the emergence of the idea that the persons responsible for the Tutsi genocide committed in Rwanda should be judged. To that purpose, the paper discusses the first field reports in May and June 1994 from non-governmental organisations such as African Rights or Médecins Sans Frontières in the perspective of their documentary importance. It also examines the actors involved in the convening of a Special session of the Commission on Human Rights of the UN in May 1994, an important milestone for the qualification of the crimes committed in 1994 in Rwanda. The paper springs from my PhD research that focused on two essential moments of this emerging international court: the debates around the creation of the ICTR (1994) and the history of the very first trial, the Jean-Paul Akayesu case (1995-1998).