Part Two: From Northern Ireland to Africa
A Mitchell Scholar Reflects on the Rwandan Genocide Trial

I watched the courtroom in the glass in front of me. My supervisor and other legal officers were dressed in judicial robes and seated in chairs directly in front of the judges. The Prosecutor and his team joined the courtroom and were seated to the left of the bench. The Defence attorneys sat to the right with the accused. The judges entered the courtroom and everyone rose. The judgment was read and the accused was acquitted. The gallery was surprised but the Prosecutor did not challenge the verdict. The next day, those who opposed the decision held a protest, but the government upheld the Court. You might think I was sitting in a courtroom in Geneva, Switzerland or the Hague, or even the UK, but, in fact, the trial I was witnessing was taking place before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The legal proceedings, the decision, the protest and the government's support of the judiciary increased my faith in the concept of transitional justice.

In my first few weeks at the ICTR, I thought a lot about the impact of the Tribunal’s work on sustainable peace in Rwanda. My view of the ICTR was gradually shaped as I watched witnesses to the genocide testify. When I heard their testimony, realized all that they've suffered, and recognized how much it has cost them to travel to Arusha to go before the Tribunal, I was inspired and awed by what motivated them --their tremendous commmitment to justice and the courageous belief that justice can be achieved. So, when in early September, I received a provocative e-mail from a friend that sharply criticized the Tribunal’s work, I felt compelled to defend the Tribunal and argue that Rwanda must see internationally accountable justice done to prevent another conflict. Of course, I realize the real question about the work of the Tribunal is more nuanced. A peaceful protest and government support of a judgment is only one example of how the ICTR has the potential to impact reconciliation by exposing the truth and allowing Rwandans to process it constructively. Later in September, Professor William Schabas, a leading expert on transitional justice and a NUI Galway Professor, visited Arusha to help everyone working in Chambers do some self-evaluation. The judges and Professor Schabas discussed the Tribunal’s impact in Rwanda and on the development of international criminal law. I felt refreshed in taking a step back and engaging in constructive dialogue about the ICTR’s impact. My internship with the Tribunal, based in Tanzania, ended too soon. Before I departed Africa, I realized I had to visit Rwanda.

Rwanda is a country of beautiful and green rolling hills that nestle villages. In almost every village, one can find a church with purple ribbons on its door and a genocide memorial in front of the sanctuary. On my first day in Rwanda, I visited the suburbs of Kigali and introduced myself simply as a graduate student. I found people eager and willing to engage with me about the Tribunal’s work. My second day in Rwanda was different. I traveled to Kibuye, a town near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that experienced significant outflow of refugees during and after the genocide and currently hosts refugees from the DRC. There, I visited another church. The memorial was gated and locked, and I was informed by a parishioner that strangers need permission from the local priest to visit the area. Unlike at other churches, the priest was unwilling to talk about the events of the past. His fluent French became broken and lapsed into Kinyarwanda when I asked if he knew what was happening at the Tribunal. My other attempts to ask questions about the Tribunal in Kibuye were also largely rebuffed. The geography in the Kibuye region of Rwanda suggests a higher probability of continued ethnic conflict. With that in mind, I left Kibuye with the idea that it would be an opportune location for an ICTR outreach center, if ICTR outreach centers existed.

A few months work at the ICTR and a short visit to Rwanda certainly did not reveal all of the answers about how to best guarantee transitional justice for sustainable peace. My visit to Rwanda did, however, serve as a useful reminder of why it is important to support, improve, and evaluate international transitional justice projects. I met many children in Kibuye, some of whom inadvertently made their way into my photos. Many of their parents experienced a horror that has an unforgettable resonance with me after hearing the testimony of witnesses, and seeing the memorials to genocide victims. The work of the ICTR is part of a process that, I hope, will ensure that ethnic violence of the past remains a history lesson for them. Rwanda, like Northern Ireland and Bosnia, has shaped my ideas about how the United States and the international community can and should continue to support transitional justice efforts in post-conflict societies.

Amanda Wetzel graduated from Penn State University’s Schreyer Honors College in 2002. She was a George J. Mitchell scholar at the Queen’s University of Belfast School of Law and graduated in December 2003 with Distinction and a LL.M. in Human Rights Law. She is currently a joint JD/Master en Droit student at Columbia Law School and Université Paris I-Panthèon la Sorbonne. In October 2006, she will begin the French portion of her studies. During her time at Columbia Law School, Amanda was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, an editor on the Human Rights Law Review, a member of the 2005-2006 Vis International Arbitration Moot Team, and Chair of the Domestic Violence Project. Amanda has previously worked at the U.S. Department of State in both Washington D.C. and Belfast, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, and the Defence Section of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of Bosnia. In the summer 2006, she was a Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett Public Interest Fellow and worked both as a summer associate in the firm’s New York office and as an intern at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Amanda expects to graduate from Columbia Law School and La Sorbonne in 2008 and will qualify to practice law in New York and France. This is the second of two entries written by Amanda describing her experience at the ICTR.