Rwanda has managed the extraordinary feat of reconstructing state and society after the devastating 1994 genocide in which three-quarters of the minority Tutsi population was annihilated. This conference assesses where Rwanda is now – and where it is heading – with respect to good governance, human rights, civil society, economic development, reconciliation, post-genocide justice, and foreign relations.

This conference is dedicated to Alison Des Forges, a historian and human rights activist, who was senior adviser in the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch for nearly 15 years. She had warned of a possible genocide in early 1993, helped mobilize policymakers and publics against the genocide in 1994, and later, as an expert witness, helped convict many génocidaires at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and in Belgian and Swiss courts. Her magisterial account of the Rwandan genocide, Leave None to Tell the Story (1999), earned her the MacArthur “genius” award.

The conference, which is organized by the Centre for International Human Rights, will take place on Friday, 20 March 2009 from 8:30 am – 8:00 pm at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, 28 Russell Square, London WC1B 5DS. It is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to Troy.Rutt[at]sas.ac.uk.

Participants include:

• Tom Porteous (London Director, Human Rights Watch)
• Anneke Van Woudenberg (Senior Researcher, Human Rights Watch)
• Carina Tertsakian (Author, Le Château: The lives of prisoners in Rwanda)
• Tom Gibson (Campaigner, Africa Program, Amnesty International)
• Karen Murphy (Director of International Programs, Facing History)
• Carla Ferstman (Director, REDRESS)
• Kerstin McCourt (Programme Manager, Danish Institute of Human Rights)
• Don Webster (ICTR prosecutor)
• Klaas de Jonge (Former head of gacaca research, Penal Reform International)
• Venuste Nshimiyimana (Journalist, BBC Afrique)
• Eugenia Zorbas (Former staff, Political Affairs Division, MONUC)
• Paul Gready (Professor in Applied Human Rights, University of York)
• Nigel Eltringham (Lecturer, University of Sussex)

The conference will conclude with a premiere screening of “The Notebooks of Memory” – the final film in Anne Aghion’s remarkable trilogy of one-hour documentary films on justice and reconciliation in a small Rwandan community, where she has been filming for the past nine years. The film plunges the viewer into the gacaca (community court) trials of genocide suspects. The film will be followed by Q&A with the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker.