‘Justice seen is Justice done?’ - Assessing the Impact of Outreach Activities by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

By referring to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as a case study, this paper seeks to explore the impact of outreach activities by international criminal tribunals. Building upon primary field research findings, including twenty-seven in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 108 respondents, this paper applies a theory-driven investigation of the impact of outreach activities by the ICTR. Contrary to the theoretical argument, on a national level throughout society over time, outreach activities by the ICTR did neither increase awareness and understanding, nor shape positive perceptions towards the Tribunal and its expected contribution to reconciliation. Furthermore, a comparison of groups of outreach participants and control groups shows that outreach did increase the level of knowledge among beneficiaries of such activities. An increased understanding, however, cannot be correlated with more positive perceptions towards the Tribunal or its role in promoting reconciliation.