To state that the 1994 Rwandan genocide was one of the most horrific catastrophes that occurred in the 20th century is to restate the obvious. This thesis is an analytical exploration of the root causes of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It explains how Tutsi became non-indigenous Hamities and how Hutu became native indigenous, leaving the two populations to be identified along racial and ethnic lines. In 1933, the Belgians introduced identity cards which specified one‟s ethnic affiliation, giving birth to political identities as Hutu and Tutsi ceased to become cultural identities and became political identities. The identities of Hutu and Tutsi were not only legally enforced, but they also became linked to the governance of the state. Tutsi was now associated with state power and domination, while Hutu was linked with suppression and discrimination. Independent Rwanda, the Hutu took over power and continued to subscribe to some of the colonial racists ideologies and maintained Tutsi and Hutu as political identities. The once oppressed Hutu became the oppressor, whilst the once dominate Tutsi became the oppressed. The victim group construction theories were used in this study to examine the ills of race-branding in independent Rwanda. The Hutu regimes of the First Republic (1962-1973) and the Second Republic (1973-1994), failed to go beyond the colonist‟s strategy of divide and rule and instead continued to apply this racist ideology to bring justice to the Hutu, which turned into revenge for the Tutsi. Hence, this study analysis and evaluates how the citizenship and political identity crisis led to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. / Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2012.

The policy of National Unity and Reconciliation in Rwanda has been the subject of much heated debate in recent years, prompted by the uncovering of repressive techniques of the current government. As the policy is designed to enhance the legitimacy of this government, the national rhetoric must be compared to its actions where reconciliation is concerned. Instead of promoting national unity and reconciliation, this thesis will show that the government actively obstructs Rwandan interpersonal reconciliation through the denial of acceptance and empowerment. The analysis is informed by the psychological needs-based model of reconciliation, bringing in aspects of psychological theory into a field largely dominated by law and political science.

This dissertation provides a socio-historic analysis of the ethos of war crimes criminalization articulated in three general historical eras: the First World War era, the Second World War era, and the contemporary era. Both primary (i.e. archival material, legislative documents, and law) and secondary (i.e. journals articles and books) materials informed this analysis. Although these three eras were not entirely discrete (e.g. criminalization during the Second World War era was influenced by the failure of Leipzig trial that followed the First World War, and policy decisions following the Second World War had a great deal of impact upon the criminalization process in the contemporary era) or unified (varying levels of disagreement occurred amongst important lobby groups and policy makers in each era), important policy shifts occurred in each period as the Canadian government attempted to grapple with the issue of war crimes and war criminals. The Canadian criminalization of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide was marked by six prominent features: (1) the sine qua non of the criminalization process in each era was a distinct conception of the nature of war crimes and/or war criminals; (2) the articulation and application of war crimes policies rarely matched; (3) Canadian identity shaped the criminalization process, and the criminalization process helped to shape Canadian identity; (4) although a distinct conception of war criminals was prominent in each era, remnants of past conceptions of war criminals still influenced the criminalization process; (5) an examination of the criminalization of war crimes within the military justice system is essential in order to understand the criminalization process writ large; (6) it is impossible to fully separate the different justice systems in play during the criminalization process.

The purpose of this research was to examine how non-Aboriginal Canadians might respond if the label genocide is used to describe the historical mistreatment of the Aboriginal Peoples’ of Canada. In two studies, I manipulated the perception of Residential Schools as genocide by informing (or not informing) undergraduate student participants that some people believe what happened should be labeled genocide. I also assessed the potential moderating role of knowledge by either measuring participants’ pre-existing knowledge of Residential Schools or manipulating how much participants learned about Residential Schools through a passage. Overall, participants’ reactions to the label depended on what they knew about Residential Schools such that participants with a superficial level of knowledge responded defensively to a description of Residential Schools as genocide, while participants with no knowledge or high levels of knowledge responded positively. Findings provide theoretical insight into how knowledge affects perpetrator group members’ reactions to historical harms.

This thesis investigates the background, activities, and motivations of German women who provided administrative support for Nazi institutions and agencies of the Third Reich. It compares women who specifically chose to serve the Nazi cause in voluntary roles with those who took on such work as a progression of established careers. Using a variety of sources, including post-war testimony in criminal cases, it shows how much they knew about the repressive and genocidal aspects of the regime and evaluates the role that ideology, as against other factors, played in their loyalty to their employers. Secretaries, SS-Helferinnen (SS female auxiliaries) and Nachrichtenhelferinnen des Heeres (female communication auxiliaries of the army) held similar jobs: taking dictation, answering telephones, and sending telegrams. Yet their backgrounds differed markedly. While secretaries were habitually recruited on the basis of their prior experience and competencies, the Helferinnen predominantly volunteered, sometimes motivated by ideology and the opportunity to serve their country, sometimes enticed by the prospect of foreign travel or the lure of the uniform. The thesis sheds light on these women's backgrounds: their social status, education, career patterns. It seeks to explain the situations and motives that propelled them into their positions and explores what they knew about the true nature of their work. These women often had access to information about the administration of genocide and are a relatively untapped resource. Their recollections shed light on the lives and work of their superiors, the mundane tasks that contributed to the displacement, deportation and death of millions of people across Europe, and the extent to which information about these atrocities was communicated and comprehended. Attention is paid to the specific role played by gender amongst perpetrators of the Holocaust. The question of how gender intersected with National Socialism, repression, atrocity and genocide forms the conceptual thread linking the separate chapters on these three groups of women who had varied backgrounds and degrees of initial commitment to Nazi ideology.

This thesis explores the hermeneutic opportunities in the United Nations’ human rights documents which are used by states, like the United States, to rhetorically circumvent the responsibilities the documents place on U.N. member states. The way these opportunities are strategically used is examined through case studies of the Clinton administration attempts to evade involvement in the Bosnian and Rwandan genocides. News conferences, press briefings and speeches are used to do a rhetorical analysis of Clinton’s strategy in order to determine how that strategy was shaped by the constraints and opportunities of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

This study was prompted by the remarkable need for pastoral counselling for wounded Rwandese women. Many women that survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda had been widowed, raped and beaten, had cut their arms and legs, had been forced to kill their own children and were infected with HIV/AIDS during that time. They were emotionally, spiritually and physically wounded by the 1994 genocide. They do not have hope for tomorrow; they do not have peace in their minds because of what happened to them and to their beloved ones. In addition, some Christians left the church, saying that God is no longer there because more Rwandese died in the church than anywhere else, while thinking that it would be a safe place. The main question that this study aims to address, is: What pastoral guidelines can be given to wounded Rwandese women between the ages of 35-55 in Kibuye who suffered from the 1994 genocide? In addressing this question, the study attempts to answer the following questions: • What pastoral guidelines does the Bible provide with regard to counselling wounded people in a situation of genocide? • What do secular literature indicate with regard to counselling in a case of genocide? • What impact did the genocide have on the Rwandese women between ages of 35-55 in Kibuye? • What pastoral guidelines may be given to the wounded person? The aim of this study is therefore to find and formulate pastoral guidelines that can be used in counselling the Rwandese women aged 35-55 in Kibuye who suffered from the 1994 genocide. The study utilises Zerfass' model (1974:164-177) for Practical Theology. This method comprises the basic theory, the meta-theory and the praxis theory. Finally, the researcher utilises the Bible to formulate and propose some Biblical guidelines that would help wounded Rwandese women to cope with their wounds so that they may live a holy life even though their situation is bad. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This dissertation provides a socio-historic analysis of the ethos of war crimes criminalization articulated in three general historical eras: the First World War era, the Second World War era, and the contemporary era. Both primary (i.e. archival material, legislative documents, and law) and secondary (i.e. journals articles and books) materials informed this analysis. Although these three eras were not entirely discrete (e.g. criminalization during the Second World War era was influenced by the failure of Leipzig trial that followed the First World War, and policy decisions following the Second World War had a great deal of impact upon the criminalization process in the contemporary era) or unified (varying levels of disagreement occurred amongst important lobby groups and policy makers in each era), important policy shifts occurred in each period as the Canadian government attempted to grapple with the issue of war crimes and war criminals. The Canadian criminalization of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide was marked by six prominent features: (1) the sine qua non of the criminalization process in each era was a distinct conception of the nature of war crimes and/or war criminals; (2) the articulation and application of war crimes policies rarely matched; (3) Canadian identity shaped the criminalization process, and the criminalization process helped to shape Canadian identity; (4) although a distinct conception of war criminals was prominent in each era, remnants of past conceptions of war criminals still influenced the criminalization process; (5) an examination of the criminalization of war crimes within the military justice system is essential in order to understand the criminalization process writ large; (6) it is impossible to fully separate the different justice systems in play during the criminalization process.

The purpose of this research was to examine how non-Aboriginal Canadians might respond if the label genocide is used to describe the historical mistreatment of the Aboriginal Peoples’ of Canada. In two studies, I manipulated the perception of Residential Schools as genocide by informing (or not informing) undergraduate student participants that some people believe what happened should be labeled genocide. I also assessed the potential moderating role of knowledge by either measuring participants’ pre-existing knowledge of Residential Schools or manipulating how much participants learned about Residential Schools through a passage. Overall, participants’ reactions to the label depended on what they knew about Residential Schools such that participants with a superficial level of knowledge responded defensively to a description of Residential Schools as genocide, while participants with no knowledge or high levels of knowledge responded positively. Findings provide theoretical insight into how knowledge affects perpetrator group members’ reactions to historical harms.

This study was prompted by the remarkable need for pastoral counselling for wounded Rwandese women. Many women that survived the 1994 genocide in Rwanda had been widowed, raped and beaten, had cut their arms and legs, had been forced to kill their own children and were infected with HIV/AIDS during that time. They were emotionally, spiritually and physically wounded by the 1994 genocide. They do not have hope for tomorrow; they do not have peace in their minds because of what happened to them and to their beloved ones. In addition, some Christians left the church, saying that God is no longer there because more Rwandese died in the church than anywhere else, while thinking that it would be a safe place. The main question that this study aims to address, is: What pastoral guidelines can be given to wounded Rwandese women between the ages of 35-55 in Kibuye who suffered from the 1994 genocide? In addressing this question, the study attempts to answer the following questions: • What pastoral guidelines does the Bible provide with regard to counselling wounded people in a situation of genocide? • What do secular literature indicate with regard to counselling in a case of genocide? • What impact did the genocide have on the Rwandese women between ages of 35-55 in Kibuye? • What pastoral guidelines may be given to the wounded person? The aim of this study is therefore to find and formulate pastoral guidelines that can be used in counselling the Rwandese women aged 35-55 in Kibuye who suffered from the 1994 genocide. The study utilises Zerfass' model (1974:164-177) for Practical Theology. This method comprises the basic theory, the meta-theory and the praxis theory. Finally, the researcher utilises the Bible to formulate and propose some Biblical guidelines that would help wounded Rwandese women to cope with their wounds so that they may live a holy life even though their situation is bad. / Thesis (M.A. (Pastoral))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.