Anne Kubai

Between justice and reconciliation: The survivors of Rwanda

This article examines the dilemmas of post-genocide Rwanda, where society finds itself caught between justice and reconciliation. One of the major challenges for Rwandans today is to engender reconciliation in a deeply wounded nation and do justice to both victims and perpetrators. It is difficulty to affirm the victims, punish the perpetrators and at the same time bring about reconciliation between them. Yet there are unequivocal claims, especially from the victims, that there can be no justice without reparation and there can be no reconciliation without justice. To bring about justice and reconciliation, the Gacaca process was put in place, but it has turned out to be a source of fear for the perpetrators, who are desperate to bury the evidence by intimidating the survivors, and for the survivors, who are now living in fear of their lives. Consequently, the rising insecurity of survivors has become a matter of national concern, and the challenges to the Gacaca process are threatening to hamper its progress. But this apparently is the only viable justice system for communities to carry out trials at community level, for it was there that the crime of genocide was committed in a mass-killing frenzy. Truth telling and confessions by perpetrators, and forgiveness by victims have been identified as crucial steps towards reconciliation, but the dilemma lies in the inherent contradictions in the application of these concepts: truth, confession and forgiveness.

Post-genocide Rwanda: the changing religious landscape

This paper seeks to examine the proliferation of Pentecostal churches and the changing religious landscape of Rwanda. The horrific genocide of 1994, left the countrys traditional mainline churches bloodied and the Christian faith seriously challenged. Unlike elsewhere in Africa, prior to the genocide, Pentecostal churches had not got a foot-hold in Rwanda, then referred to as the most Catholic country in Africa. In the aftermath, Rwanda has experienced a spontaneous growth of new churches imported by returnees from far and wide. Though the Catholic Church still retains its dominant position, there has been an upsurge of Protestants and the Rwandan religious landscape is changing considerably. This gospel explosion has been attributed to the enormous challenges of social-economic reconstruction of a fractured society, where reconciliation and healing are of utmost importance. By packaging their messages with hindsight of the disillusionment with the traditional churches and the spiritual as well as the material need to arise from the ashes of genocide and rebuild their lives, these churches have attracted thousands of Rwandans.

Making and unmaking ethnicities in the Rwandan context: implication for gender-based violence, health, and wellbeing of women

Objectives To examine ethnicity and gender violence in Rwanda from cultural and historical perspectives and explore the encounters between cultural beliefs and practices and the new gender equality policy and programs and the implications of the particular encounters to the health of women. Design The study is a qualitative drawing from the growing range of interactive approaches and methods within an ethnographic framework of the research design. Twenty individual interviews, six focus group discussions and two ‘community mobilization’ dialogs were conducted. Results Violence has continued and there is a conflict between cultural tradition, the de-ethnicization, and gender equality policies. Some of the gender violence preventive programs are influenced by the ethos of the traditional norms, and therefore unwittingly perpetuate gender-based violence. Conclusions In spite of the progress that Rwanda has made in political empowerment of women, it still seems a long way before real gender equality is achieved. It seems that womens empowerment is not only just an opportunity for political participation but also this is important. It is also about the capacity to make effective choices and to translate them into desired actions and outcomes, unfettered by cultural sanctions. Universalised, top-down gender policy programs have not furnished all women with the necessary capacity to make decisions that affect their traditionally all important reproductive functions; to challenge the embedded gender imbalance; and to strive for a holistic wellbeing of their families, where they play a central role. Indeed, some of the policies could have negative implications to the health of women, in particular, with sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS.

Trafficking of Ethiopian women to Europe – making choices, taking risks, and implications

ABSTRACT This piece focuses on the Ethiopian women victims of trafficking – the agency of these women in the whole trafficking process, and issues of choice – ‘trying a chance’, or just taking a risk to get out of poverty or difficult social circumstances, considering that they are lured, tricked, coerced, or even forced into the hands of traffickers by a wide range of circumstances and people, including family and friends. Traffickers target girls with economic, social, and family problems. Most of the trafficking of women and girls from Ethiopia is carried out through the use of service ‘agencies’ and human smugglers who facilitate the process of migration through a number of routes. Many of those who use the ‘desert route’ often begin from Sudan to North Africa from where they cross to Europe. The data for this contribution were generated in a study – ‘Captured in Flight: Experiences of violence among African women in Sweden’ – funded by the Swedish crime prevention agency (Brottsoffermyndgheten). The research for the project has been carried out in Sweden, but the women whose case studies are presented here have been in the Middle East, Turkey, Italy, Finland, and Greece before coming to Sweden.

Does need matter? Needs assessments and decision-making among major humanitarian health agencies

Disasters of physical origin, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, tidal waves, tropical storms, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions, have affected millions of people globally over the past 100 years. Proportionately, there is far greater likelihood of being affected by such disasters in low-income countries than in high-income countries. Furthermore, low-income countries are in need of international assistance following disasters more often than high-income countries. The funding of international humanitarian assistance has increased from USD 12.9 billion in 2006 to an estimated USD 16.7 billion in 2010. The majority of this funding is channelled through humanitarian agencies and is supposed to be distributed based on the need of those affected, as assessed using needs assessments. Such needs assessments may be used to inform decisions internally, to influence others, to justify response decisions, and to obtain funding. Little is known about the quality of needs assessments in practical applications. Consequently, this paper reports on and analyses the views of operational decision-makers in major health-related humanitarian agencies on needs assessments.

Being here and there : Migrant communities in Sweden and the conflicts in the Horn of Africa

Abstract The largest migrant communities in Sweden come from Africas most troubled region, the Horn. These are the Somali and Ethiop-Eritrean communities. This paper examines the not-so-obvious ways in which Ethiop-Eritrean and Somali communities in Sweden influence the political developments, particularly the conflicts at ‘home’. Many of these immigrants living in Sweden keep up with social and political developments in their countries of origin almost on daily basis and remain engaged, to a large extent, in the affairs of both their families and communities ‘out there’ while they ‘are here in Sweden’. This article therefore focuses on the particular forms of engagement that have either intended or unintended impact on the intractable conflicts in which the societies in these countries are engaged. I argue that ‘nostalgia underpins the immigrants’ sense of commitment to the affairs of their countries of origin, and therefore, providing moral and material support to warring groups derives the impetus largely from the affective dimension of migration.

‘"A child, a tree" : Challenges in building collaborative relations in a community research project in a Kenyan context

This paper highlights the potential for basing participatory action research on priorities identified by communities. The case builds on a research project by the Social Science Medicine Africa Network (Soma-net) focusing on AIDS prevention among school youth in Kajiado in Kenya during 2003–2006. It became clear from that study just how complex it is to promote open communication on issues of sexuality considered critical for sexual health promotion. Towards the end of that study a spin-off in the form of a concept “a child, a tree” or tree planting evolved and the research thereafter continued as a partnership between the school community and the researchers. The focus then was on understanding how health promotion could be integrated into other aspects of community life. The concept and tree planting when implemented created a sense of ownership among the pupils largely because they were placed at the centre of the development activities. The story illuminates the nature of change developing in the course of the project, but also the challenges and complexity of creating and maintaining collaborative relations in the face of cultural and gender power dynamics and interventions imposed from outside the community.