REPARABILITY OF VICTIMS’ HARM AT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT: VICTIMS’ EXPECTATIONS VERSUS REALITY

Abstract

Reparation to victims is a unique feature of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and a bold innovation in international criminal justice. In two decades of its operation, the Court has successfully decided four reparation cases with award of juridical reparations to thousands of victims cumulatively. In spite of this statistics, it would seem that the expectation for reparations at the ICC is not matched by the outcome of reparation cases. Victims who apply to the Court for juridical reparations are overwhelmingly more than those who eventually get an award. The expectations of victims who eventually get an award may be unmatched by the reality of harm they perceive they have suffered. This paper employs a desktop approach to examine the reparability of victims’ harm at the ICC as one of the imperatives of the reparations regime at the ICC. The principles which define reparability at the Court, perhaps, delineate the gulf between victims’ expectation and reality for reparations. The principles on eligibility of victims, connectivity of harm etc. play a huge role in reparability. This paper concludes that domestic reparation may provide respite to victims of Rome Statute crimes in the face of the technicalities of juridical reparations at the ICC.