Ripple Effects of Genocide in Rwanda

I'd like to draw your attention to a series of posts at Opinio Juris, written by Roger Alford, a law professor at Pepperdine University, as he travels through Rwanda. In his post today, Alford writes that, despite significant progress over the past 15 years, the impact of the genocide is tightly woven into Rwandan state and society:

"But wherever one goes one cannot escape the long shadow of genocide. It continues to impact the fabric of the country in ways small and big. Last week we visited the National University of Rwanda in Butare and met with the dean, law faculty and law students. Dean Didas Kayihura is doing wonderful work at NUR and I greatly enjoyed speaking with the students there. They had numerous insightful questions about international criminal law, universal jurisdiction, and the ICC.

We spent time at the law school’s legal aid clinic to hear some of the stories of the poorest of the poor in Rwanda. One woman sought legal help because of a vexing property issue relating to the genocide. The man she is now living with had committed acts of genocide and served his time in prison. He was freed and met the woman and they started a family. They were never legally married but she alleges the government is now trying to go after her small plot of land to compensate the victims of the genocide. Is it legal to do that if they are not married?"

Genocides are cataclysmic events in and of themselves, and the ripple effects continue for generations after the killing itself ends. Genocide is not one abuse, not one instance of suffering, but many. (All the more cause for prevention, one would think.)

Follow Alford's travels here.

[Photo: A Rwandan man faces a gacaca court session in the village of Rukira.]