Child Perpetrators on Trial
Insights from Post-Genocide Rwanda

A multidisciplinary empirical study of how juvenile justice standards were operationalised by the state and UNICEF in post-genocide Rwanda.

Jastine C. Barrett (Author)

9781108496551, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 November 2019

366 pages, 4 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.4 cm, 0.66 kg

'Child Perpetrators on Trial: Insights from Post-Genocide Rwanda thoroughly and comprehensively analyzes the various actors working in the juvenile justice system in post-genocide Rwanda and how child perpetrators of genocidal acts progressed through this justice system … With these intriguing speculations, Barrett leaves readers eager to hear more.' Elizabeth D. Wiseman, New York University Journal of International Law and Politics

Following a devastating genocide in 1994, the Rwandan government elected to hold all perpetrators accountable - including children. Thousands of children were held in prisons while awaiting charges; some were later convicted. This book is about these children. Drawing on interviews and extensive archival research in Rwanda, it documents their journey through prisons, formal courts, gacaca proceedings or re-education centres. Its insights extend beyond Rwanda, looking at how international law protects children accused of even the most serious atrocities. The book is about law in action, and how states, and international organisations, operationalise international standards on child perpetrators in challenging post-conflict conditions. Engaging with theories from international law, international relations and anthropology, it illuminates strategies utilised by UNICEF to promote the rights of alleged child génocidaires and traces UNICEF's positive influence on their protection. It makes the case for principled pragmatism as an approach to human rights promotion in post-conflict societies.

1. Introduction
2. International standards on child perpetrators of atrocities
3. Putting international standards into practice
4. Rwanda: setting the context
5. Rwanda's responses, in law, policy and practice, to child génocidaires
6. International actors and the Rwandan child génocidaire
7. UNICEF Rwanda's policy and advocacy: a strategic approach
8. Evaluating UNICEF Rwanda's approach: a case of principled pragmatism?
9. Child perpetrators and child rights: Rwanda and beyond.

Subject Areas: International organisations & institutions [LBBU], International law of territory & statehood [LBBJ], Public international law [LBB], International law [LB], Criminology: legal aspects [LAR], Human rights [JPVH], United Nations & UN agencies [JPSN1], International relations [JPS], Comparative politics [JPB], Peace studies & conflict resolution [GTJ]