The Gacaca Courts: Traditional Dispute Resolution in Post-Genocide Rwanda

Abstract

In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide the crippled formal judicial system failed to administer justice in a timely manner. A modified version of the traditional Gacaca courts were introduced to hear cases from the backlog of over 100,000 genocide suspects. We find that the Gacaca courts performed well relative to the formal justice system given the constraints faced. The Gacaca courts generated valuable information about the genocide suspects and increased access to the justice system. The introduction of the Gacaca courts improved the performance of the formal justice system and facilitated post-conflict recovery.

Keywords: Law and Economics, Dispute Resolution, Rwanda, Comparative Institutions, Informal Institutions, Post-Conflict Recovery

JEL Classification: K40, O43, O55