Justice Needs of Victim-Survivors of Sexual Violence: Post-Genocide Justice and the Rwandan Gacaca Courts

Justice Needs of Victim-Survivors of Sexual Violence examines the experiences of Rwandan victim-survivors during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, exploring their justice needs, how the gacaca courts addressed them, and implications for justice responses to sexual violence in other settings.

This book draws on interviews with twenty-three Rwandan victim-survivors to examine their hopes, motivations, and experiences having their cases tried by gacaca. Established to try genocide-related crimes, these courts combined restorative and retributive justice, setting them apart from conventional criminal justice and standard restorative justice practices. The victim-survivors' accounts form the foundation of this book, shaped by fifteen years of research and collaboration with practitioners and scholars, and by the perspective of a psychotherapist who counselled many of the participants. It introduces two key categories of justice needs: process-related and outcome-related. It evaluates how effectively gacaca addressed these justice needs and compares victim-survivor experiences across conflict, post-conflict, and peacetime contexts globally, highlighting commonalities and differences.

Justice Needs of Victim-Survivors of Sexual Violence makes a significant contribution across transitional, restorative, and criminal justice contexts, genocide studies, and sexual violence research. It offers practitioners, policymakers, and scholars a framework for understanding and responding to victim-survivor justice needs across diverse settings.