INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
THE LEGACY OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA
31 October – 1 November 2013
CALL FOR PAPERS
On 22 December 2010, the UN Security Council, established by resolution 1966 the
International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. In that resolution, the Council
acknowledged the “considerable contribution the Tribunals have made to international criminal
justice and accountability for serious international crimes and the re-establishment of the rule
of law in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda”.
Over the years the Rwanda tribunal has achieved a number of milestones in the development
of international criminal law jurisprudence, which include:
* decisions in relation to genocide and the criminal responsibility of former heads of
government;
* decisions on rape and sexual assault as elements of the crime of genocide;
* decisions examining the link between the media, hate speech and mass slaughter.
The significance of the Rwanda Tribunal has also surfaced in debates about the Tribunal’s role
in contributing to the process of national reconciliation and the restoration and maintenance of
peace, an objective clearly envisaged in Security Council resolution 955 (1994) which brought
the Tribunal into existence. Moreover, in 1995, only a year after 800,000 people were
massacred in Rwanda, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, chairman of the South African Truth and
Reconciliation Commission (TRC), told the new Rwandan government that ‘unless you move
beyond justice in the form of a tribunal, there is no hope for Rwanda’. South Africa’s TRC, the
ICTR and the Rwandan gacaca courts each represent different approaches to transitional
justice. The co-existence of diverse mechanisms in Rwanda raises important questions about
whether they are indeed complementary or incompatible.
With these developments in mind and with the Tribunal’s mandate nearing its end, the time is
opportune to interrogate critically the role of the Tribunal - both internationally and in Rwanda
- and to analyse its successes, failures and challenges. The Conference therefore aims at
providing a forum for evaluating the legacy of the Tribunal. The conference organisers welcome
papers on this important theme and any of the following sub-themes:
* The ICTR’s Contribution to International Humanitarian Law/International Criminal Law
* The Relationship between the Rwanda Tribunal and Domestic Courts
* Transitional Justice and Reconciliation
* The South African TRC, and the Rwandan Gacaca Courts
* The Challenges of International Criminal Prosecutions in Africa
* The Rwanda Tribunal and the Future of International Criminal Justice in Africa
The Conference organisers are inviting abstracts for papers to be sent to Mia Swart
([email protected]) not later than 24 May 2013. Abstracts should not be longer that 500 words.
Candidates will be contacted within three weeks of submission if they are successful. It is
envisaged that a selection of conference papers will be published.
The Conference is co-organised by:
The University of Johannesburg
The International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (Mr Roland Kouassi Amoussouga)
The Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law (Prof Mia Swart, Dr Mispa Roux)
The South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights and International
Law (Prof David Bilchitz, Mr Redson Kapindu and Mr Michael Dafel)
The National Research Foundation Research Chair in International Law (Prof Hennie Strydom)
The Conference is funded by:
The University of Johannesburg
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation
