A Genocide Before the Genocide? Assessing the Massacres Against the Abagogwe in Rwanda in Legal Terms

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Authors
Garuka, Christian
Kemp, Gerhard
Bachmann, Klaus
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Date
2026-08-11
Publisher
Journal title
International Criminal Law Review
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Pages
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ISSN
1567-536X
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https://brill.com/view/journals/icla/aop/article-10.1163-15718123-bja10288/article-10.1163-15718123-bja10288.xml?srsltid=AfmBOor7PDH5a9vppPtSu-eZl7luwyY2WqNkTiXGi7RMjN4Te2TKvUly&ebody=Article%20details
Access date
2026-08-31
Abstract PL
Abstract EN
For the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Rwandan Genocide started in April 1994 and ended in July of the same year, due to the relevant United Nations Security Council resolution, which tasked the ICTR to prosecute the genocide. In recent years, several authors have claimed that the genocide against the Tutsi to be preceded by another genocide: the massacres against the Bagogwe in the northern part of the country. In this article, we discuss the evidentiary background of these claims, assess them in terms of International Criminal Law and the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda with the aim to establish whether they fulfilled the criteria for a genocide. We emphasize the importance of the protected group criteria and the issue of the perpetrators’ genocidal intent. We conclude that the massacres against the Bagogwe fulfilled even the demanding requirements of the ICTR’s concept of crimes against humanity. However, at first sight, the Bagogwe seem to lack the necessary characteristics of a group protected by the Genocide Convention. By applying the Akayesu criteria of ‘any stable and permanent’ group and new research showing they were targeted not just as Tutsi but specificly as traditional cattle holding Tutsi, we propose to overcome this obstacle.
Abstract other
Keywords PL
Keywords EN
genocide
Rwanda
jurisdiction
UN Security Council
abagogwe
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Keywords other
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
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https://share.swps.edu.pl/handle/swps/2501
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Governance and collective identity formation in precolonial and early colonial Rwanda
Grant number
2025/ 57/B/HS3/00075
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Acquisition Date20.10.2022
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Acquisition Date20.10.2022
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