Gerald Gahima successfully defended his doctoral thesis yesterday at the Irish Centre for Human Rights. Entitled Rwanda: Accountability for Atrocity, it examines the efforts taken within Rwanda to bring perpetrators of genocide to book. Gerald Gahima was a very central figure in the process, as the chief of staff to the Rwandan Minister of Justice for several years, beginning in 1995, and subsequently as the country's Attorney General. He currently live outside Rwanda . The thesis contains many insights into the difficulties of 'post-conflict justice', enriched by his own quite unique perspective. The photo shows Gerald, on the left, the internal examiner, Dr. Noam Lubell, on the right, and the external examiner, Prof. Mark Drumbl, on the video screen in the middle. This was the first viva that we have conducted by videoconference. Professor Drumbl, of Washington and Lee University in Virginia, is a distinguished specialist on Rwandan mechanisms to address justice. See his recent book, Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law, published in 2007 by Cambridge University Press. Dr. Noam Lubell is a lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights; his Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors is to be published by Oxford University Press in the next few weeks.
I have no doubt that Gerald Gahima's thesis will soon be taken up by a major international publisher, and that it will make an important contribution to our thinking about issues of transitional justice. Congratulations on this achievement, Gerald.
1 comment:
Did Mr. Gahima include in his thesis how a champion in abusing people’s rights was. In Rwanda, Gahima is seen or compared to Sadam Hussein. Gahima, a man who was synonymous to terror and terrorism in Rwanda. Did he include in his thesis how he was forced to resign on in post of judge in Yougoslavia when it was discovered he abused people’s rights in Rwanda. Justice will one day catch up with him.
Josph Irakunda
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