RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: We tested the psychological correlates of the Gacaca tribunals, a massive program of transitional justice put in place by the Rwandan government following the 1994 genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi. METHOD: The sample consisted of 679 Rwandese participants, among which 373 (55%) were survivors of the genocide. We contrasted three groups of participants: (1) those who had never attended the Gacaca (N = 229), the control group, (2) those who had attended without testifying (N = 275), the attendance group, and (3) those who had attended and testified (N = 120), the testimony group. In the analyses, we controlled for the level of genocide-related negative consequences that participants reported. RESULTS: The attendance group presented lower levels of PTSD and depression symptoms than both the control and testimony groups. Both attendance and testimony groups had more positive opinions of the Gacaca and higher openness to reconciliation than the control group. CONCLUSIONS: contrary to what has been reported in two previous studies, participation in the Gacaca was not, in our data, negatively related to mental health or to social cohesion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
