On the Reparations Mandate of the Trust Fund for Victims

Sat, 2011-12-17 00:42

 

On the Reparations Mandate of the Trust Fund for Victims

 
Victims have an important stake in proceedings before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Next to the right to participate in proceedings, they also have a right to reparations, once an accused person has been convicted. This important innovation of international criminal law by the Rome Statute holds the promise of an unprecedented avenue of international reparative justice, for victims of the most serious crimes. 
The delivery on this promise will be in the hands of the ICC – and of the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV), another creation of the Rome Statute. The Trust Fund has a crucial role to play in the implementation of Court-ordered reparations. The Trust Fund is capable of transforming Court-ordered reparations into credible and tangible forms of redress for victims of crimes adjudicated by the ICC.
Next to its reparations mandate, the Trust Fund for Victims is also mandated to provide various forms of assistance to victims, and their families, in as far as they have been harmed by crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. In contrast to reparations, which are always linked to a conviction in a particular case before the ICC, the Trust Fund’s victim assistance mandate allows it to respond to the needs of victims in the entire territory of the situation that is recognized within the jurisdiction the ICC. The Trust Fund has administered this mandate since 2008 in northern Uganda and the DRC.
As the first verdict(s) in cases before the ICC are on the horizon, the triggering of the Rome Statute’s reparation regime is now widely anticipated. This briefing paper – which is not a legal document – focuses on how, considering the Trust Fund’s implementation mandate, such reparations may translate into reality. Key questions are: Who decides on what? Who stand to benefit? Who delivers? And - who pays?
Who decides on what? Structures and forms of ICC reparations
Please read further here
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