Victims of International Crimes: An Interdisciplinary Discourse

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xxv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Thorsten Bonacker, Christoph Safferling

   Pages 1-14

3. Victims in International Law

   1. Victim-Oriented Perspectives: Rights and Realities

      • Theo van Boven

      Pages 17-27

   2. On Victims and Non-Victims: Observations from Rwanda

      • Gerd Hankel

      Pages 29-43

4. Definition of Victims

   1. The Status of Victims Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

      • Michael J. Kelly

      Pages 47-66

   2. The Individualising and Universalising Discourse of Law: Victims in Truth Commissions and Trials

      • Michael Humphrey

      Pages 67-89

   3. Redressing Sexual Violence in Transitional Justice and the Labelling of Women as “Victims”

      • Susanne Buckley-Zistel

      Pages 91-100

   4. Everyone Wanted to be Victim: How Victims of Persecution Disappear Within a Victimised Nation

      • Brigitte Bailer-Galanda

      Pages 101-117

   5. Transcending Victimhood: Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice

      • Mark A. Drumbl

      Pages 119-145

5. Victim Protection and Participation in Criminal Trials

   1. The Protection of Victims in War Crimes Trials

      • Daniela Kravetz

      Pages 149-163

   2. Victims as Witnesses: Views from the Defence

      • Natalie von Wistinghausen

      Pages 165-173

   3. Participation Rights of Victims as Civil Parties and the Challenges of Their Implementation Before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

      • Silke Studzinsky

      Pages 175-188

   4. The ICC’s Practice on Victim Participation

      • Franziska C. Eckelmans

      Pages 189-221

   5. Victims’ Rights and Peace

      • Hans-Peter Kaul

      Pages 223-229

6. Victims in Transitional Justice Processes

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 231-231

      PDF

   2. Victims, Excombatants and the Communities: Irreconcilable Demands or a Dangerous Convergence?

      • Chandra Lekha Sriram

      Pages 233-251

   3. Victims of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity

      • Boris Barth

      Pages 253-262

   4. Victims of Civil War

      • Stefanie Bock

      Pages 263-277

   5. Valorising Victims’ Ambivalences in Contemporary Trends in Transitional Justice

      • Thorsten Bonacker, Anika Oettler, Christoph Safferling

      Pages 279-296

   6. A Reflection on Transitional Justice in Guatemala 15 Years After the Peace Agreements

      • Raquel Aldana

      Pages 297-316

In international law victims' issues have gained more and more attention over the last decades. In particular in transitional justice processes the victim is being given high priority. It is to be seen in this context that the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court foresees a rather excessive victim participation concept in criminal prosecution. In this volume issue is taken at first with the definition of victims, and secondly with the role of the victim as a witness and as a participant. Several chapters address this matter with a view to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Trial against Demjanjuk in Germany. In a third part the interests of the victims outside the criminal trial are being discussed. In the final part the role of civil society actors are being tackled. This volume thus gives an overview of the role of victims in transitional justice processes from an interdisciplinary angle, combiningacademic research and practical experience.

• Compensation for victims
• Human Rights
• International criminal law
• Transitional Justice
• Victim participation

• Institut fur Soziologie, Philips Universitat, Marburg, Germany

  Thorsten Bonacker

• , Institut für Kriminalwissenschaften, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany

  Christoph Safferling

Policies and ethics