Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: Systems in Place and Systems in the Making provides a rich tapestry of practice in the complex and evolving field of reparations, which cuts across law, politics, psychology and victimology, among other disciplines. Ferstman and Goetz bring their long experiences with international organizations and civil society groups to bear. This second edition, which comes a decade after the first, contains updated information and many new chapters and reflections from key experts. It considers the challenges for victims to pursue reparations, looking from multiple angles at the Holocaust restitution movement and more recent cases in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It also highlights the evolving practice of international courts and tribunals. First published in a hardbound edition, this second, fully revised and updated edition, is now available in paperback.

This book provides detailed analyses of systems that have been established to provide reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the way in which these systems have worked and are working in practice. Many of these systems are described and assessed for the first time in an academic publication. The publication draws upon a groundbreaking Conference organised by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre (CNRC) and REDRESS at the Peace Palace in The Hague, with the support of the Dutch Carnegie Foundation. Both CNRC and REDRESS had become very concerned about the extreme difficulty encountered by most victims of serious international crimes in attempting to access effective and enforceable remedies and reparation for harm suffered. In discussions between the Conference organisers and Judges and officials of the International Criminal Court, it became ever more apparent that there was a great need for frank and open exchanges on the question of effective reparation, between the representatives of victims, of NGOs and IGOs, and other experts. It was clear to all that the many current initiatives of governments and regional and international institutions to afford reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes could benefit greatly by taking into full account the wide and varied practice that had been built up over several decades. In particular, the Hague Conference sought to consider in detail the long experience of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (the Claims Conference) in respect of Holocaust restitution programmes, as well as the practice of truth commissions, arbitral proceedings and a variety of national processes to identify common trends, best practices and lessons. This book thus explores the actions of governments, as well as of national and international courts and commissions in applying, processing, implementing and enforcing a variety of reparations schemes and awards. Crucially, it considers the entire complex of issues from the perspective of the beneficiaries - survivors and their communities - and from the perspective of the policy-makers and implementers tasked with resolving technical and procedural challenges in bringing to fruition adequate, effective and meaningful reparations in the context of mass victimisation.

Each year, countless people fall victim to crimes against humanity. These include widespread occurrences of systematic murder, torture, rape, disappearances, forced deportation and political persecution. Crimes against humanity constitute an attack on human dignity and as such they violate the human rights of the victim, as well as the laws of humanity. In recent years, following the creation of the International Criminal Court, there has been a growing interest in the prosecution of offenders and, in particular, in reparation following crimes against humanity. While such measures are meant to provide justice for victims, victims are often forgotten or lost in legal debates about what constitutes reparation and who is eligible to receive it. This book reaches beyond the boundaries of law and psychology and takes a multidisciplinary approach to the question of reparation for victims of crimes against humanity. Law does not take place in a vacuum and it is important to consider the impact of the law on the psychology of the victim, as well as the legal principles themselves. Herein lies the originality of this book, which bridges the gaps between psychology, victimology, criminology and law and will be of key interest to academics and students engaged in the study of these areas.

Contemporary Issues Facing the International Criminal Court is a collection of essays by prominent international criminal law commentators, responsive to questions of interest to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Topics include: • Jurisdiction: The 2008-2009 Gaza Issue • The Obligation to Arrest in the Darfur Context • Appropriate Limitations on Oversight • The ICC and Prevention of Crimes • Reparations • Proving Mass Rape • Focus on Africa: Is the ICC Biased? • Increasing Rates of Apprehension and Arrest Richard H. Steinberg is Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California (Los Angeles), and Editor-in-Chief of www.ICCforum.com, a collaboration with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Fatou B. Bensouda, who wrote the foreword, is Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Over the last decade, the issue of reparation for victims of gross and systematic human rights violations has given rise to intense debates at the national and the international level. Discussions particularly arise in post-conflict situations characterised by serious violations of human rights, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other forms of injustice of the past. Crucial questions include: what harm inflicted to victims warrants reparation? when and how to repair the harm? who is eligible for reparation and who has the duty to repair? These and other questions raise many challenging issues for theory and practice. This volume contains the contributions presented at an international conference in Brussels, in February 2005, on the right to reparation for victims of serious human rights violations. It also includes the final report of a research project undertaken jointly at the Universities of Antwerp (UA) and Leuven (K.U.Leuven) between 2000 and 2004 on the right to reparation in international law for victims of gross and systematic human rights violations, both from a legal and a socio-political perspective. The present volume is aimed at academics, policy-makers, national and international courts and tribunals, the legal professions, and civil society at large.

Paradoxically, victims of ordinary crimes such as fraud, theft or assault, can obtain redress through regular domestic channels, whereas victims of such major atrocities as genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity, have been left mostly uncompensated. Until recently, a pervasive climate of impunity for international crimes relegated victims to the political and legal periphery. Over the last few years however, the international community has begun to recognize that, just as crimes under international law cannot be considered ordinary crimes, victims of these crimes cannot be considered ordinary victims. In this book, Dr. Bottigliero explores the origins, evolution and practice relating to victims' redress in domestic law, regional and universal human rights regimes, humanitarian law, the law of State responsibility, United Nations practice, and international criminal law including the International Criminal Court. She argues that the international community must now move beyond incomplete and fragmented approaches towards a much more comprehensive redress regime for victims of crimes under international law, and she recommends means by which to enhance the coherence, effectiveness and fairness of victims' redress.