On January 27, the UW iSchool hosted more than 400 guests for "Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal: Genocide and Justice," an event co-hosted by Seattle University School of Law and co-sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington. The event was the result of months of work by a team of information scientists, legal experts and award-winning cinematographers who traveled to Rwanda and Tanzania to interview the judges, prosecutors, defense counsel, administrators, interpreters, investigators, jailers, psychologist and others associated with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The team, which was led by University of Washington Information School Professor Batya Friedman and former Superior Court Judge Donald Horowitz, included former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Utter and former U.S. Attorney John McKay. In the first phase of a larger project, the team conducted 49 in-depth video interviews.

The work of the team was the subject of a lengthy story by the Associated Press. The article appeared locally in the Seattle Times, as well as more than 100 print and broadcast news outlets around the world.

The project also featured a novel new system to provide public authentication for digital records. The importance of this piece of the project emerges from the reality that it is increasingly easy to alter digital text, video and audio in ways that people cannot perceive without the aid of sophisticated technology. The authentication piece of the work was itself the subject of an article in the Science section of the New York Times.

"Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal" is part of a UW multi-lifespan research initiative intended to help future generations understand and learn from the Rwanda genocide, develop an improved system of international justice, and contribute to a process of healing and peace.

To support this work visit the iSchool's online giving page.

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