Rwanda launches ‘rehab’ for killers

The BBC is reporting about the rehab for killers program in Rwanda

Ceremonies have been held across Rwanda to mark the opening of rehabilitation centres for people who admit taking part in the 1994 genocide.

Thousands of prisoners are being released from jail to go to the re-education centres and then back to their communities.

Prime Minister Bernard Makuza told one ceremony that the controversial policy was just the latest stage in the post-genocide justice process.

But the BBC’s correspondent in Kigali, Ishbel Matheson, says human rights groups are concerned the move could simply undermine the slow process of justice.

Serious overcrowding in Rwandan jails was one factor behind the initiative, she says.

Up to a million people were killed over the course of 100 days in a government-orchestrated campaign aimed at eradicating the country’s Tutsi minority.

The prisoner-release plan is being targeted at people who have confessed to lesser crimes, although our correspondent says these include murders which would be seen as horrific by normal standards.

I can’t see how releasing people who committed genocide into the public after a three week rehab course can be a good move. It seems to be minimizing and even accepting the racial division and hatred behind the crimes. I know there is no easy answer but this seems to be the worst possible approach.

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