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Women's participation in the Rwandan genocide: mothers or monsters?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2010

Nicole Hogg
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Abstract

The participation of women in the 1994 Rwandan genocide should be considered in the context of gender relations in pre-genocide Rwandan society. Many ‘ordinary’ women were involved in the genocide but, overall, committed significantly fewer acts of overt violence than men. Owing to the indirect nature of women's crimes, combined with male ‘chivalry’, women may be under-represented among those pursued for genocide-related crimes, despite the broad conception of complicity in Rwanda's Gacaca Law. Women in leadership positions played a particularly important role in the genocide, and gendered imagery, including of the ‘evil woman’ or ‘monster’, is often at play in their encounters with the law.

Type
Women
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 92 , Issue 877: Women , March 2010 , pp. 69 - 102
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2010

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References

1 Interview, respondent #29, 10 July 2001. As the author's interviews with female genocide suspects were conducted under condition of confidentiality, their names are not cited in this paper (with the exception of Euphrasie Kamatamu, see below note 152). Rather, a number has been given to each interview respondent, from 1 to 71, reflecting the order in which interviews were held.

2 Interview, respondent #13, 3 July 2001.

3 Ligue Rwandaise Pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme (LIPRODHOR), ‘Rapport de Monitoring des Prisons au Rwanda. Période: 1er Trimestre 2008’, p. 17 (showing 1738 women convicted of genocide-related offences and a further 395 still awaiting trial). Note that in addition to this number, many more would have been convicted of property offences – subject only to a penalty of civil damages or restitution and not a sentence of imprisonment.

4 As at February 2008, females represented 5.7% of people detained in relation to the genocide (2133 from a total of 37,213). Ibid.

5 This article focuses on trials of female genocide suspects through the national courts, and not through the complementary ‘traditional’ justice system called gacaca, whereby suspects are tried in the community before their peers, in thousands of local tribunals across the country. Gacaca trials commenced on 15 July 2006, after a 15-month pilot period, and are due to be wound up at the end of 2010. LIPRODHOR, ‘Rwanda/génocide: La clôture des Juridictions Gacaca imminente’, 27 July 2009, available at http://www.liprodhor.org.rw/Cloture%20Gacaca.html (last visited 15 October 2009). Hearings before the gacaca tribunals warrant a separate analysis, which is outside the scope of this paper.

6 For an explanation of this concept, see below note 75 and accompanying text.

7 Cain, Maureen, ‘Towards Transgression: New directions in Feminist Criminology’, International Journal of the Sociology of Law 18, 1990, pp. 1–18Google Scholar, see p. 10.

8 See, for example, Prunier, Gerard, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide, Columbia University Press, New York, 1995Google Scholar.

9 Bernardin Muzungu, o.p. ‘L'Héroïsme au Féminin’, in Cahiers Lumière et Société, Histoire IV, No. 8, p. 43, December 1997, Butare, Rwanda. NB: Translation from Kinyarwanda (Inkokokazi ntibika mu masake) provided by Léo Kalinda, Montreal, 26 November 2001.

10 Avega ‘Agahozo’, ‘Survey on Violence Against Women in Rwanda’, Kigali, 1999, p. 32.

11 Government of Rwanda, Ministry of Gender and Promotion of the Family, Projet ‘Enquête Socioculturelle sur les Attitudes, les Pratiques, les Croyances en Rapport avec le Genre’, Grandes Tendances Socio-Culturelles: Résultats de la Recherche Documentaire et des Interviews, Centre Gasabo, November 1999, p. 13.

12 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, ‘La Place de la Femme Dans Les Projets de Développement Rural: Le Projet d'Intensification agricole de Gikongoro au Rwanda’, Etude de Cas, F.A.O., Rome, 1991, p. 7.

13 Ibid.

14 Réseau Des Femmes Oeuvrant Pour Le Développement Rural, ‘Étude Sur l'implication des Femmes dans les Instances de Prise de Décision’, Réseau Des Femmes, Kigali, 1999, p. 34.

15 Government of Rwanda, above note 11, p. 12.

16 Ligue des Droits de la personne dans la région des Grands Lacs (LDGL), ‘Obstacles culturels à la Mise en œuvre de la Convention sur L'Elimination de Toutes les Formes de Discrimination à l’égard des Femmes au Burundi, en RD Congo et au Rwanda,' October 2007, pp. 12–13, http://www.ldgl.org/spip.php?article1965 (last visited 23 September 2009).

17 Despite educational reforms during the 1980s which encouraged girls' participation in school, as at 1991, 70% of rural Rwandan women were still reported to be illiterate, as against 50% of rural men. United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, above note 12, p. 15.

18 ‘Rapport National du Rwanda aux Nations Unies pour la Quatrième Conférence Mondiale Sur Les Femmes, September 1995, Beijing (Chine)’, Kigali, 1995 (hereinafter ‘Report to Beijing’), p. 29.

19 United Nations Development Program (UNDP), ‘Common Country Assessment – Rwanda: Gender, 1999’, unpublished (on file with author), p. 8.

20 See, for example, Shattered Lives: Sexual Violence during the Rwandan Genocide and its Aftermath, Human Rights Watch, New York, 1996; Rwanda: Death, Despair and Defiance, African Rights, London, 1995, chapter 10, pp. 748–797; and Avega ‘Agahozo’, above note 10. In a groundbreaking decision, on 2 September 1998, the ICTR found rape in the Rwandan conflict to be an act of genocide as well as a crime against humanity. It also found rape to constitute an act of torture, although, pursuant to the indictment, it did not convict on this ground. ICTR, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-I, Judgement, 2 September 1998, in particular paras 692 (re: crimes of humanity of rape and other inhuman acts), 731 (re: genocide) and 687 (re: torture).

21 Government of Rwanda, above note 11, pp. 19–20.

22 Indeed, a recent (2007) report notes that ‘[i]n modern Rwandan society, significant developments have been observed … 64.3% of survey respondents, men and women combined, consider that this division [the traditional division of labour] no longer has any merit.’ LDGL, above note 16, p. 13.

23 African Rights, Rwanda – Not So Innocent: When Women Become Killers, African Rights, London, 1995, pp. 8–9.

24 Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) report, as cited in Réseau des Femmes, Profil Socio-Economique de la Femme Rwandaise, Kigali, May 1991, p. 48. This statistic was broadly defined, to include women who were: widows; separated or divorced; in polygamous relationships (and who must effectively manage alone); young unmarried mothers; or women left alone following the absence of their menfolk, especially to the city.

25 Government of Rwanda, ‘National Gender Policy: A Revised Final Draft Submitted by E.C.A./E.A.-S.R.D.C’, Kigali, March 2001, p. 10.

26 SERUKA (Association pour la Promotion de la Contribution Active de la Femme Rwandaise au Développement), ‘Travail de Recherche Sur le Rôle de la Femme Rwandaise Dans les Mécanismes Traditionnels de Résolution des Conflits Initié par le Collectif Pro-Femmes/Twese Hamwe et Réalisé par l'Association Seruka’, Kigali, 1999, p. 14.

27 Reva Adler, Cyanne Loyle and Judith Globerman, ‘A Calamity in the Neighborhood: Women's Participation in the Rwandan Genocide,’ Genocide Studies and Prevention, Vol. 2, No. 3, November 2007, pp. 209–234, see p. 216.

28 Réseau Des Femmes, above note 14, pp. 35–36, citing Rutazana (1997).

29 Report to Beijing, above note 18, p. 14.

30 Réseau Des Femmes, above note 14, p. 38 (citing statistics as at 1992).

31 Report to Beijing, above note 18, p. 15. Rwanda is divided into 12 préfectures (now called provinces), each headed by a préfet (prefect). Within each préfecture, there are communes (now called districts), headed by a bourgmestre (mayor). Communes are in turn divided into secteurs, headed by a conseiller. Within each secteur are numerous cells, the responsibility for which lies with leaders called responsables.

32 Taylor, Christopher C., Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994, New York, Berg, 1999, p. 179Google Scholar, note 8. For a discussion of some famous Queen Mothers in Rwandan history, see Prunier, above note 8, pp. 23–25 and 86; Jean Rumiya, Le Rwanda Sous le Régime Du Mandat Belge (1916–1931): Racines du Présent, Harmattan, Paris, 1992, pp. 134 and 172; and SERUKA, above note 26, p. 16.

33 Prunier, above note 8, p. 24.

34 Women achieved no leadership positions under colonialism. (The special schools created for chief administrators were exclusively reserved for men, while women were trained in housekeeping.) Following independence, there was only one female government minister under the First Republic. Avega ‘Agahozo’, above note 10, p. 33.

35 Agathe Uwilingiyimana was appointed Prime Minister of Rwanda in July 1993. See Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE – Rwanda Chapter), Agathe Uwilingiyimana: The Rebel. A Biography of the Former Rwandese Prime Minister Assassinated on 7/4/1994, First Draft, February 2000, Kigali.

36 Ibid, p. 28.

37 Ibid, p. 4. As Minister for Education, Uwilingiyimana abolished the ethnic quota system in schools, encouraged girls to pursue science subjects and to continue onto University and increased the representation of women in decision-making positions in her department. Ibid, pp. 25–26 and 21, respectively.

38 Ibid, pp. 36–39. The Prosecutor Against Pauline Nyiramasuhuko and Shalom Ntahobali, Case No. ICTR-97-21-I, Amended Indictment, 1 March 2001, para. 6.4 (hereinafter ‘Nyiramasuhuko Amended Indictment’).

39 Interview with Alice Karekezi, Director of Human Rights, Justice and Governance program, Centre for Conflict Management, National University of Butare, 4 June 2001.

40 Nyiramasuhuko Amended Indictment, above note 38.

41 LIPRODHOR, ‘Rwanda-Génocide: Réclusion criminelle à perpétuité pour Agnès Ntamabyaliro’, available at http://www.liprodhor.org.rw/Ntamabyariro%20reclusion.html (last visited 22 September 2009).

42 Vidal, Claudine, Sociologie des passions: Rwanda, Côte d'Ivoire, Paris, Éditions Karthala, 1991, pp. 28–44.Google Scholar Vidal identifies three characteristics of this ‘ethnic group’ (the ‘elite’) as follows: (1) adoption of a European lifestyle, (2) practice of the Christian religion, and (3) a total acceptance of the written version of history provided by European colonisers. Ibid, p. 29. NB: The little-known third ethnic group in Rwanda is the Twa, Rwanda's original inhabitants, who comprised 1% of the population at the time of the genocide.

43 Article 51 of the Organic Law No. 16/2004 of 19.06.2004 establishing the organisation, competence and functioning of Gacaca courts charged with prosecuting and trying the perpetrators of the Crime of Genocide and other Crimes against Humanity, committed between October 1, 1990 and December 31, 1994 (hereinafter ‘Gacaca law’), available at: http://www.amategeko.net/ (last visited 11 October 2009).

44 Article 72(1) of the Gacaca law, ibid (‘life imprisonment with special provisions’), read in conjunction with Article 4 of the Organic Law No. 31/2007 of 25.07.2007 relating to the abolition of the death penalty, available at: http://www.amategeko.net/ (last visited 11 October 2009). The last executions in Rwanda were on 22 April 1998, when 24 people, including one woman, were executed by firearm in relation to genocide. As at March 2006, 606 detainees in Rwandan prisons had been sentenced to death. LIPRODHOR, Peine de Mort: Résultats de la recherche sur la peine de mort au Rwanda, Kigali, December 2006, p. 38, available at http://www.liprodhor.org.rw/Peine%20de%20mort.pdf (last visited 12 October 2009).

45 Gacaca law, above note 43, Article 2. NB: References to Article 9 in this Article should be read as Article 51.

46 Ibid, Article 73.

47 Interview, respondent #50, 24 July 2001.

48 Interview, respondent #27, 10 July 2001.

49 For example, Mamdani claims: ‘The truth is that everybody participated, at least all men.’ Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2001, p. 5.

50 Estimates of the proportion of male perpetrators of the genocide range from ‘tens of thousands’ to three million. Scott Strauss has applied a more scientific method of calculating the proportion of male perpetrators (defined as ‘someone who materially participated in the murder or attempted murder of a non-combatant’), to conclude that, contrary to popular belief, only 14–17% of the adult male Hutu population (or 7–8% of the entire population) can be considered perpetrators of the genocide. Scott Strauss, The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda, Cornell University Press, New York, 2006, p. 115, note 28 and accompanying text.

51 Female genocide suspect, Butare prison (interview, respondent #62), 26 July 2001. Also see quote at the outset of this article. Rose Mukantabana, Executive Secretary of Rwandan women's NGO Haguruka, agreed that ‘the majority of women were victims of the situation and stayed at home.’ Interview with Rose Mukantabana, Kigali, 8 June 2001. According to Ms Mukantabana, the ‘exceptions’ were ‘those in positions of authority or power, some respected leaders including some teachers and nuns, and other isolated individual cases.’

52 Interview with Alice Ndegeya, Executive Secretary, SERUKA (Association pour la Promotion de la Contribution Active de la Femme Rwandaise au Development), Kigali, 25 June 2001.

53 One Rwandan lawyer, for example, stated: ‘The criminality of women is very low in general in Rwandan society but … the genocide was different. I believe the majority of women participated in it.’ Interview with Bernadette Kanzayire, lawyer, Kigali, 12 June 2001.

54 Woman convicted of genocide, Gitarama prison, (interview, respondent #10), 17 July 2001.

55 See generally, African Rights, above note 23, and Nicole Hogg, ‘I never poured blood: Women Accused of Genocide in Rwanda’, MA thesis, Faculty of Law, McGill University, Toronto, Canada, November 2001.

56 Indeed, a high proportion of the author's interview subjects in Rwandan detention had been accused of directly participating in the violence. Specifically, the 71 women the author met in detention in Rwanda reported a total of 93 charges between them. Importantly, 43 of those charges (46%) involved ‘killing’, with her own hands or as a member of a group. This can be compared with 25 charges (27%) for exposing the hiding place of Tutsis or ‘handing someone over’ to the killers. This discrepancy, it can be concluded, is linked to the prosecutors targeting those who directly participated in the violence, as discussed later in this paper.

57 Adler, Loyle and Globerman, above note 27. Jeanne Mukamusoni, from the women's survivors' organization, Avega ‘Agahozo’, confirmed this conclusion, stating that: ‘Women incited violence against other women, showed the hiding spots of Tutsis and looted in particular.’ Interview with Jeanne Mukamusoni, Social Assistance and Medical Assistance Programme Officer, Avega ‘Agahozo’, Kigali, 11 June 2001.

58 According to Adler, Loyle and Globerman, above note 27, p. 220, ‘women were also expected by armed killers to participate in the genocide by denouncing victims, looting and burning local properties, and lending support to the homicidal agenda of extremists.’

59 Woman convicted of genocide, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #10), 2 July 2001.

60 Interview with Bernadette Kanzayire, lawyer, Kigali, 12 June 2001. One female detainee similarly stated: ‘I did not see any women with the killers, but I know that if they found people hiding they would beat them and steal their cows or call the killers.’ Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #36), 17 July 2001.

61 Female genocide suspect, Kigali Central Prison (interview, respondent #13), 3 July 2001.

62 Indeed, were it to do so, this could potentially justify the concept of ‘total war’, as was apparently orchestrated against Tutsi civilians, who were all seen to be supporters of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. As the ICRC notes, this is a concern in many conflicts, whereby moral responsibility is seen to trump legal requirements. Charlotte Lindsey, Women Facing War, ICRC, 2001, pp. 26–27.

63 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama Prison (interview, respondent #38), 18 July 2001. It should be noted that this woman was also accused of being implicated in the murder.

64 Female genocide suspect, Nsinda prison (interview, respondent #70), 7 August 2001.

65 Female genocide suspect, Nsinda prison (interview, respondent #65), 6 August 2001.

66 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #34), 16 July 2001. NB: Some observers are unsympathetic to the argument that women had no power vis-a-vis their husbands. Rakiya Omaar of African Rights, for example, maintained that ‘the argument that women were helpless to act against the genocide is bullshit. Women were not helpless.’ Interview with Rakiya Omaar, Co-Director, African Rights, Kigali, 13 June 2001. Rwandan lawyer Bernadette Kanzayire took an intermediate view, claiming that women should have acted more benevolently within the limits of the power they actually had. She said ‘[b]efore the genocide, women … followed the orders of their husbands and their families. But it has been stated that if women had played their “true role” as the centre of the family, the genocide would not have taken place. Women could have advised their husbands and sons or refused to prepare meals for them. Even if women did not have much power in Rwandan society they should have at least tried to do something.’ Interview with Bernadette Kanzayire, lawyer, Kigali, 12 June 2001.

67 Woman convicted of genocide, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #10), 2 July 2001.

68 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #43), 19 July 2001. NB: A panga is a large knife, similar to a machete.

69 Western feminist criminologist Francis Heidensohn has also observed that ‘women reject a criminal identity with especial rigour.’ In Heidensohn's view, ‘[t]he strong denials of their criminality by some women is probably, then, linked to “appropriate” gender-role behaviour,’ Francis Heidensohn, Women and Crime, New York University Press, New York, 1995, p. 19.

70 Article 53 of the Gacaca law, above note 43.

71 Daniel De Beer, The Organic Law of 30 August 1996 on the Organization of the Prosecution of Offences Constituting the Crime of Genocide or Crimes Against Humanity … Commentary, Alter Egaux Editions, Kigali, 1997, p. 35.

72 See above note 4.

73 Interview with Bernadette Kanzayire, lawyer, Kigali, 12 June 2001. Jeanne Mukamusoni agreed it was difficult to find witnesses to testify against women,. She said: ‘Victims saw and heard women committing these acts, but they were often in hiding, so it is difficult to say with certainty who was responsible.’ Interview with Jeanne Mukamusoni, Social Assistance and Medical Assistance Programme Officer, Avega ‘Agahozo’, Kigali, 11 June 2001.

74 Interview with Gerald Gahima, former Rwandan Attorney General, Kigali, 3 August 2001.

75 Pollak argued that women commit just as many crimes as men, or at least more than the official figures indicate, but that women's crimes are of a more covert nature. Specifically, he claimed, ‘the lack of social equality between the sexes has led to a cultural distribution of roles which forces women in many cases into the part of instigator rather than … performer of an overt act,’ Otto Pollak (1950), as cited in Patricia Pearson, When She Was Bad: Violent Women and the Myth of Innocence, Viking, New York, 1997, pp. 20–21. Although most feminist criminologists today characterize Pollak as a misogynist with little to give to feminist scholarship, some observers agree with his view that ‘the criminality of women is largely masked criminality.’ Pearson, Ibid, p. 20. For a more detailed discussion of Pollak's theory, and criticism of it, see: Shelley Gavigan, ‘Women's Crime: New Perspectives and Old Theories’, in Ellen Adelberg and Claudia Currie (eds.), Too Few to Count: Canadian Women in Conflict with the Law, Press Gang Publishers, Vancouver, 1987, p. 51; Carol Smart, Women, Crime and Criminology – a Feminist Critique, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1976, pp. 46–53 and Dorie Klein, ‘The Etiology of Female Crime: A Review of the Literature’, in Susan Datesman and Frank Scarpitti, Women, Crime and Justice, Oxford University Press, New York, 1980, p. 94.

76 Interview with Gerald Gahima, former Rwandan Attorney General, Kigali, 3 August 2001.

77 Ibid.

78 Interview with Rakiya Omaar, Co-Director, African Rights, Kigali, 13 June 2001.

79 Woman convicted of genocide, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #10), 17 July 2001. On shame and women rejecting a criminal identity generally, see Heidensohn, above note 69.

80 Interview with Bernadette Kanzayire, lawyer, Kigali, 12 June 2001.

81 Interview with Vincent Karangura, lawyer, Kigali, 13 July 2001. Note, since the author conducted her research in Rwanda in 2001, the majority of genocide suspects have been tried by the gacaca tribunals. The author is unable to comment on whether the gacaca judges, chosen from the local community, also demonstrated chivalrous attitudes towards women.

82 Scott Strauss has similarly noted, in relation to male genocide perpetrators, that ‘motivation and participation varied during the genocide. There is no one reason why all perpetrators took part in the violence.’ Strauss, above note 50, pp. 95–96.

83 Interview, respondent #12, 2 July 2001.

84 Female genocide suspect, Nsinda prison (interview, respondent #65), 6 August 2001.

85 Strauss details the ‘intra-Hutu coercion’ and fear of punishment in the event of refusal, which motivated 64% of his 210 male interview respondents to participate actively in the killings. Strauss, above note 50, p. 136. Mark Drumbl, on the other hand, doubts that coercion was a major factor, even among male genocide participants. See Mark A. Drumbl, ‘Punishment, Post genocide: From Guilt to Shame to Civis in Rwanda’, New York University Law Review, Vol. 75, No. 5, November 2000, pp. 1247–48.

86 African Rights also reports detailed testimonies of people, including women, who participated in the massacres under threat. See African Rights, above note 20, pp. 995–1000.

87 The Interahamwe, meaning ‘those who stand together’ in Kinyarwanda, was a militia formed in the period leading up to the genocide and which led many of the killings during the genocide.

88 Many of the author's interview respondents claimed they had tried to protect Tutsis in their homes, even if they had participated in the genocide in other ways.

89 The author acknowledges the subjectiveness of her assessments of the credibility of the stories provided by interview respondents. However, an impression was usually left, taking into account the totality of the interview (including the level of remorse expressed, and whether the respondent believed that genocide had taken place). Sentiments were also discussed and cross-checked with the author's translator.

90 Female genocide suspect, Kigali Central Prison (interview, respondent #19), 5 July 2001.

91 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #30), 16 July 2001.

92 To the author's knowledge, there is no precedent in Rwandan law, for gender to be taken into account when considering the defence of ‘irresistible compulsion’ (similar to the common law defence of duress) set out in Article 70 of the Rwandan Penal Code (Law No. 21/77 of 18 August 1977), Rwandan Ministry of Justice website, www.amategeko.net/, (last visited 13 October 2009). That provision provides ‘there is no criminal responsibility when the accused … was constrained by a force he could not resist.’ The Commentaries on the Penal Code provide that for the defence to apply, the compulsion ‘may be physical or mental [psychological] but it must be powerful. Nonetheless, the strength of the compulsion is … assessed in taking account of the personality of the person under the compulsion, and of the situation in which he finds himself.’ Moreover, the person affected by the compulsion must be ‘totally convinced … that he risks serious and immediate harm, from which he can escape only by committing the criminal act which is demanded of him.’ De Beer, above note 71, pp. 38–39.

93 Again, such cases could potentially fit within the defence of irresistible compulsion, according to which ‘[t]he risk of meeting with serious and immediate harm can affect someone other than the person under compulsion. This may be his children, members of his family, even other persons.’ De Beer, ibid.

94 Female genocide suspect, Kigali Central Prison (interview, respondent #23), 6 July 2001.

95 Female genocide suspect, Kigali Central Prison (interview, respondent #27), 6 July 2001.

96 According to Adler, Loyle and Globerman, ‘despite the advancing RPF and ubiquitous anti-Tutsi rhetoric, women most feared fellow Hutus involved in genocidal activities’, Adler, Loyle and Globerman, above note 27, p. 219.

97 One woman described her co-accused as ‘the ringleader of the group. She had so much power, she even used to fight with men. She was very enthusiastic and strong. She didn't have a husband, and didn't even want to take one because she was so strong.’ Woman convicted of genocide, Gitarama Prison (interview, respondent #10), 2 July 2001.

98 Sharlach, Lisa, ‘Gender and Genocide in Rwanda: women as agents and objects of genocide’, Journal of Genocide Research, 1999, Vol. 1, pp. 387–399CrossRefGoogle Scholar, see p. 397.

99 See Jean-Pierre Chrétien et al., Rwanda: Les Médias du Génocide, Éditions Karthala, Paris, 1995; The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Judgement, ICTR-96-4-T, 2 September 1998, paras 99–100, available at: ICTR, www.ictr.org/default.htm (last visited 13 October 2009).

100 The ICTR has confirmed as recently as 14 July 2009 that ‘There is no dispute that there was an armed conflict of a non-international character between the Rwandan government and the military forces of the RPF.’ The Prosecutor v. Tharcisse Renzaho, Judgment, ICTR-97-31-T, 14 July 2009, available at: ICTR, www.ictr.org/default.htm (last visited 13 October 2009).

101 According to one woman who held this view, ‘if 1 million Tutsis were killed; 4 million Hutus were killed.’ Female genocide suspect, Butare prison (interview, respondent #62), 2 August 2001.

102 Woman convicted of genocide, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #10), 17 July 2001.

103 Female genocide suspect, Kigali Central Prison (interview, respondent #13), 3 July 2001.

104 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #37), 18 July 2001.

105 Josée Mukandamage, former Vice President of the Rwandan Supreme Court, 23 July 2001.

106 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #40), 18 July 2001.

107 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #37), 18 July 2001.

108 Female genocide suspect, Gitarama prison (interview, respondent #46), 19 July 2001.

109 Female genocide suspect, Kigali Central Prison (interview, respondent #13), 3 July 2001.

110 Interview, respondent #2, 27 June 2001.

111 Interview, respondent #22, 17 July 2001.

112 Interview with Judithe Kanakuze, National Co-ordinator, Réseau des Femmes, Kigali, 8 June 2001. Similarly, Venuste Bigirama, of Rwandan NGO ASOFERWA, said: ‘I really think that if there had been more women in leadership positions, the genocide would not have occurred. Women are more sentimental.’ Interview with Venuste Bigirama, Technical Advisor, Association for Solidarity between Rwandan Women (ASOFERWA), Kigali, 11 June 2001. This position is consistent with the essentialist school of feminist thought. As explained by Lisa Sharlach, ‘Essentialist feminists posit that men are inherently more warlike than are women … Essentialists believe that the wars we have suffered are the result of male-dominated political and military systems. The world would be more peaceful if it were women making policy or “reweaving the web of life”.’ Sharlach, above note 98, p. 389.

113 Government of Rwanda, Category 1 List, http://www.gov.rw/government/category1.htm (last visited 3 September 2009).

114 Gacaca law, above note 43, Article 51.

115 Commission des Recours des Réfugiés (CRR), 15 February 2007, 564776, Mme Agathe Kanziga veuve Habyarimana, France: available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/45d5bcad3c8.html (last visited 14 October 2009), p. 2, citing the first instance decision of the Office Français de Protection des Réfugiés et Apatrides (OFPRA) against Agathe Kanziga, 4 February 2007.

116 Ibid, p. 1, citing the first instance decision of the OFPRA against Agathe Kanziga, 4 February 2007.

117 Ibid, p. 6.

118 Ibid.

119 Ibid, p. 5.

120 Ibid, p. 7.

121 Ibid, p. 5.

122 Ibid, p. 8.

123 Ibid, p. 5.

124 Ibid, p. 8.

125 Ibid.

126 Ibid, p. 1, citing the first instance decision of the OFPRA against Agathe Kanziga, 4 February 2007.

127 Report on the completion strategy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (as at 4 May 2009), S/2009/247, 14 May 2009, para. 12, available at http://www.ictr.org/default.htm (last visited 12 October 2009).

128 Nyiramasuhuko Amended Indictment, above note 38, para. 7 (‘Charges’).

129 Ibid, para. 4.2.

130 Ibid, para. 6.27.

131 ICTR, Office of the Prosecutor, Butare Cases: Witness Summaries Grid (6 April 2000), Witness No. 54 (QF).

132 Ibid, Witness No. 68 (RJ).

133 Nyiramasuhuko Amended Indictment, above note 38, para. 6.37. One witness claims that the Minister told the killers that they ‘needed to rape all Tutsi women because they are arrogant’, and that after this statement, some girls were immediately raped and killed. Ibid, Witness No. 44 (QBP). Such claims are supported by Rwandan NGO Avega ‘Agahozo’, according to which ‘the wickedness of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko is notoriously known and the militia she was supervising chose women for gang rapes and girls they sequestrated to make them their wives.’ Avega ‘Agahozo’, above note 10, p. 17. Also see Peter Landesman, ‘A Woman's Work’, NY Times Magazine, 15 September 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/15/magazine/a-woman-s-work.html (last visited 6 October 2009).

134 Interview with Maxwell Nkole, ICTR Investigator, Kigali, 11 July 2001.

135 Interview with Nicolas Cournoyer, Assistant Trial Attorney, Defence Team for Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 15 May 2001.

136 Interview with Lindsay Hilsum, BBC, mid-August 1994, as cited in African Rights, above note 23, p. 106.

137 Interview with Nicole Bergevin, Lead Defence Counsel for Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, 30 May 2001. See also Hirondelle News Agency, ‘21.09.05 – ICTR/BUTARE – Nyiramasuhuko Denies She Was a Powerful Woman’, Hirondelle News Agency, Arusha, available at: http://www.hirondellenews.com/content/view/2904/26/ (last visited 6 October 2009).

138 Interview with Nicole Bergevin, Ibid.

139 Hirondelle, ‘Nyiramasuhuko denies’, Ibid, and Hirondelle News Agency, ‘12.09.05. ICTR/BUTARE – Female Genocide Suspect Nyiramasuhuko takes aim at Expert Witness’, Hirondelle News Agency, Arusha, available at: http://www.hirondellenews.com/content/view/2876/26/ (last visited 6 October 2009).

140 Hirondelle, ‘Nyiramasuhuko denies’, above note 137.

141 Ibid.

142 Interview with Josée Mukandamage, Former Vice President of the Supreme Court, Kigali, 23 July 2001. Mukandamage described how during the genocide she had heard Nyiramasuhuko on the radio, encouraging massacres of Tutsis. She said ‘I was shocked when I heard that, especially from someone in her position.’ Mukandamage also described an event which she and other women were trying to organize in March 1994 at the sports stadium in Kigali, to celebrate National Women's day. Of Nyiramasuhuko, she said, ‘even as minister for gender, she could not bypass politics and let women join together without distinction based on ethnic or political group. Instead, she turned it into a political event, inviting all her party members … We were very disappointed. We did not even go.’ Interview with Mukandamage, Ibid. On the other hand, Mukandamage doubts the veracity of the allegation that Nyiramasuhuko incited her son to rape, claiming ‘that's going too far. Can a woman really tell her son to rape? That's not her decision.’ Ibid.

143 For an analysis of the media's fascination with Nyiramasuhuko's gender, see Carrie Sperling, ‘Mother of atrocities: Pauline Nyiramasuhuko's role in the Rwandan genocide’, Fordham Urban Law Journal, Vol XXXIII, 2006, pp. 637–664.

144 Report to Beijing, above note 18, p. 15.

145 The author was unable to locate exact statistics on the number of female Responsables at the time of the genocide but anecdotal evidence, both inside and outside the Rwandan prisons, made frequent references to them. The author met two female former Responsables during her interviews with female genocide suspects in detention in 2001.

146 Tribunal of First Instance of Kigali, in the case of Kamatamu Euphrasie, Ndagijimana Innocent, Iiagena Alphonse, Marie and Habyalimana Thomas; Case Nos. RP014/CSK/97 and RP032/CS/KIG, Decision 17.7.98 (hereinafter ‘Kamatamu judgement’).

147 Kamatamu's appeal was decided on 2 May 2000 in the Kigali Court of Appeal. The appeal was rejected.

148 Kamatamu judgement, above note 146, p. 7 and 9. Also see African Rights, above note 23, pp. 134–142.

149 Kamatamu judgement, Ibid, p. 8.

150 Ibid, p. 12.

151 Ibid, p. 13.

152 Interview with Euphrasie Kamatamu, Kigali Central Prison, 27 July 2001. Given that Kamatamu died in prison on 7 September 2001 after exhausting all appeal options, in this instance, the author no longer feels obliged to maintain the confidentiality of the interview.

153 Ibid.

154 According to legend, at least two Rwandan women are famous for their military skill. The first is Ndabaga, who was the daughter of King Ndabarasa. As the King had no son, Ndabaga learned military exercises and amputated her breasts so that she resembled a man, then joined the army. While Ndabaga is revered for her loyalty, she also stands as a symbol of the gravity of a situation, whereby even women have to bear arms in order to defend the country. Thus the dictum ‘Rwanda has arrived at Ndabaga's’ meaning ‘in a situation of extreme difficulty.’ See Muzungu, above note 9, pp. 46–47. There is also a well-known female army commander in Rwandan history who led an attack against a Belgian expedition. Rumiya, above note 32, p. 166.

155 Report to Beijing, above note 18, p. 67.

156 Military Court of the Kigali Specialised Chamber, Case No. R.P. 0001/C.M.C.S./KGL 799, 3 June 1999, Decision, Major GD Anne Marie Nyirahakizimana and Pastor Athanase Nyirinshuti. Ten years after her trial before the Military Court, Nyirahakizimana was tried again by the gacaca tribunal in Muhaga district. On 10 June 2009, that tribunal confirmed her conviction and sentenced her to life imprisonment in isolation, the harshest sentence available to the tribunal. ‘Rwanda: prison à perpétuité pour une femme médecin de l'ex-armée’, Agence France-Presse, Kigali, 10 June 2009, available at: www.cyberpresse.ca/international/afrique/200906/10/01-87 (last visited 25 October 2009).

157 Military Court decision, Ibid, pp. 50–51, para. 11.

158 Ibid, p. 51, para. 12.

159 Ibid, p. 10.

160 Ibid, p. 18.

161 Ibid, p. 10.

162 Ibid, p. 14

163 According to the judgement, Nyirahakizima's claims that she had saved her Tutsi neighbours were confirmed by her witnesses, but those witnesses, who were in hiding, could still not testify to what Nyirahakizimana had done during the day. See, Ibid, p. 58, para. 71(b) and p. 59, para. 72(b). For the claims by Nyirahakizimana, see, Ibid, pp. 11 and 15. The Prosecutor argued in relation to this claim that ‘even criminals have friends.’ Ibid, p. 44.

164 Ibid, pp. 24 and 26. In particular, Nyirahakizimana stressed that she had been caring for her niece who had undergone a Caesarean section. Ibid, p. 33. In relation to one of the other murder charges, Nyirahakizimana argued that she was not even in the vicinity of the alleged crime at the relevant time, as she was ill and had been hospitalized following an abortion. Ibid, p. 9.

165 Ibid, p. 39.

166 Ibid, pp. 9 and 26.

167 Ibid, p. 59, para. 78, and p. 61, para. 88.

168 Ibid, p. 60, para. 83.

169 Ibid, p. 55, para. 50.

170 Linden, Ian, ‘The Church and Genocide: Lessons from the Rwandan Tragedy’, in Gregory Baum and Harold Wells (eds.), The Reconciliation of Peoples: Challenges to the Churches, Orbis Books, New York, 1997, pp. 43–55Google Scholar; Budde, Michael, ‘Pledging Allegiance: Reflections on Discipleship and the Church after Rwanda,’ in Michael Budde and Robert Brimlow (eds), The Church as Counterculture, State University of New York Press, New York, 2000, pp. 213–227Google Scholar; and McCullum, Hugh, The Angels Have Left Us: The Rwanda Tragedy and the Churches, Risk Book Series, Geneva, 1995Google Scholar, especially Chapter 5, ‘The Church: Problems and Promises’.

171 Cour D'Assises de l'Arrondissement Administratif de Bruxelles-Capitale, Arrêt 8 June 2001 against: Ntezimana Vincent, Higaniro Alphonse, Mukangango Consolata and Mukabutera Julienne, available at: http://www.ulb.ac.be/droit/cdi/Site/Developpements_judiciaires_files/arret%208%20juin%202001.pdf (last visited 15 October 2009).

172 Law of 16 June 1993 relative to the repression of serious violations of the International Conventions of Geneva of 12 August 1949 and of the Protocols I and II of 8 June 1977. The nuns and their co-accused were not prosecuted for genocide, which was not a crime under Belgian law at the time of the Rwandan genocide. (Even though Belgium had ratified the Genocide Convention in 1948, it had not incorporated it into domestic law.) The 1993 law was amended on 10 February 1999 to incorporate the crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, and the title changed to Law Relative to Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. The law was abrogated in August 2003 and its content inserted into other laws, notably the Belgian Penal Code. ICRC National Implementation Database, available at: www.icrc.org (last visited 15 October 2009).

173 Testimonies against the two nuns are provided generally in African Rights, above note 23, pp. 155–185.

174 ‘Une Peur Diabolique’, Diplomatie Judiciaire, 3 June 2001.

175 ‘Diaboliques icones’, Diplomatie Judiciaire, 3 June 2001.

176 Avocats Sans Frontières, ‘Serge Wahis, un des deux avocats de sœur Kisito, confie ses réflexions sur le procès et la compétence universelle’, 12 June 2001, available at: http://users.skynet.be/wihogora/_asf/asf-assises-04.htm (last visited 9 October 2009).

177 Ibid.

178 ‘La parole aux accusés’, Diplomatie Judiciaire, 6 June 2001.

179 Ibid.

180 Avocats Sans Frontières, above note 176.

181 As Lisa Sharlach says: ‘We have yet to examine fully the implications for feminist theory of catastrophes such as Rwanda, in which women are both victims and villains’, above note 98, p. 388. Sharlach goes on to explain the principal schools of feminist theory linking women with pacifism, Ibid, pp. 389–390.

182 Interview with Judithe Kanakuze, National Co-ordinator, Réseau des Femmes, Kigali, 8 June 2001.

183 See above notes 176 and 177.

184 The ‘non-woman’ theory can be traced back to the work of early criminologists Cesare Lombroso and Guglielmo Ferrero, who maintained that criminal behaviour in a woman could be attributed to her inability to control her inherent defects (i.e. moral defïciency, revengefulness, jealousy and an inclination ‘to vengeances of refined cruelty’) and to adapt to her biological, maternal role. According to Lombroso and Ferrero, ‘[i]n ordinary cases these defects are neutralised by piety, maternity, want of passion, sexual coldness, by neatness and an undeveloped intelligence. But when piety and maternal sentiments are wanting, and in their place are strong passions … much muscular strength and a superior intelligence for the conception and execution of evil [then] the innocuous semi-criminal present in the normal woman must be transformed into a born criminal more terrible than any man.’ Cesare Lombroso and Guglielmo Ferrero, The Female Offender 1895, p. 151, as cited in Helen Boritch, Fallen Women: Female Crime and Criminal Justice in Canada, ITP Nelson, Toronto, 1997, p. 53. Also see Heidensohn, above note 69, p. 97.

185 Carroll, Jenny, ‘Images of Women and Capital Sentencing Among Female Offenders: Exploring the Outer Limits of the Eighth Amendment and Articulated Theories of Justice’, Texas Law Review, Vol. 75, Issue No. 6, 1997, in particular p. 1421Google Scholar; Naylor, Bronwyn, ‘Women's Crime and Media Coverage: Making Explanations,’ in Emerson Dobash, Russell P. Dobash and Lesley Noaks (eds.), Gender and Crime, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1995, pp. 88–91.Google Scholar See also Bridget Byrne, Gender, Conflict and Development, BRIDGE (development–gender) Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, Report No. 34, Volume 1, Overview, 1996, p. 17: ‘Women who contradict female stereotypes by killing are often regarded as much more deviant or unnatural than men.’ Available at: http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk/Reports/re34c.pdf (last visited 6 October 2009).

186 Naylor, Ibid, p. 90.

187 Interview with Vincent Karangura, lawyer, Kigali, 13 July 2001.

188 Interview with Venuste Bigirama, Technical Advisor, ASOFERWA, Kigali, 11 June 2001.

189 Recall, however, the suggestion that Pauline Nyiramasuhuko was not appointed on merit, but due to her connections with the former First Lady, Agathe Kanziga.

190 See above note 112.

191 Pearson, above note 75, p. 32.