Youth Perpetration in Rwanda: A Social History of Youth Involvement in the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi

It demonstrates how those under the age of thirty were some of the most visible participants of the genocide and therefore need to be understood as a distinct social category of perpetrator in the history of the genocide through four chapters. Firstly, the thesis explores the indoctrination that young Rwandans received during the Habyarimana regime between 1973-1994, noting how youths were prepared for genocidal action through education, religion and community roles.

Chapters Two and Three demonstrate the results of the indoctrination through an examination of the dynamics and motivations for perpetration and the violence. Finally, the consequences of youth perpetration are discussed. Combined, the chapters establish young Rwandans as prominent perpetrators throughout the genocide and demonstrate why youths were seen as the primary perpetrators by the international community.

This thesis argues that Rwandan youth as a category of perpetrators should be considered in the historical discipline.</p>