Victims Before the International Criminal Court

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

   PDF

2. Victims Before International Justice

   • Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

   Pages 1-5

3. International Practice of Victims’ Rights

   • Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

   Pages 7-95

4. Victims’ Participation Under the Rome Statute

   • Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

   Pages 97-229

5. Reparation for Victims

   • Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

   Pages 231-322

6. Summary: Victims of International Crimes

   • Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

   Pages 323-328

7. Annex: Victim-Related Relevant Decisions

   • Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

   Pages 329-386

8. Back Matter

   Pages 387-390

   PDF

The book analyses the difficulties the International Criminal Court faces with the definition of those persons who are eligible for participating in the proceedings. Establishing justice for victims is one of the most important aims of the court. It therefore created a unique system of victim participation. Since its first trial the court struggles to live up to the expectancies its statute has generated. The book offers a new approach of how to define victimhood by looking at the different international crimes. It seeks to offer guidance for the right to participate in the different stages of the proceedings by looking at the practice in national jurisdictions. Lastly the book offers insights into the functioning of the reparation regime at the ICC by virtue of the Trust Fund for Victim and  its different mandates. The critical analysis of the ICC-practice with regard to definition, participation and reparation aims at promoting a realistic approach, which will avoid the disappointing of expectations and thus help to enhance the acceptance of the ICC.

• Victims of International Crimes
• International Criminal Court
• ICC
• Victim Participation in International Criminal Procedure
• Reparation for Victims
• Comparative Criminal Procedure
• Human Rights
• Reparation law
• international criminal procedure
• The Trust Fund for Victims
• Rome Statute
• Victims’ Rights
• Geneva conventions for the protection of war victims
• victims of humanitarian law
• ICC victim participation system
• Human trafficking
• Victims of Terrorism
• Victims’ Participation in Criminal Justice Systems
• Victims of enforced disappearance
• TFV

• School of Law, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany

  Christoph Safferling, Gurgen Petrossian

​Professor Dr. Christoph Safferling studied Law in Munich and London. He received his doctoral degree at the University of Munich in 1999, and passed the bar exam in 2000. Afterwards he held the position of assistant professor of law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Since 2006 he is professor for criminal law, criminal procedure, international criminal law and public international law at the Philipps-University of Marburg, Director of the International Research and Documentation Center for War Crimes Trials, and the Whitney R. Harris International Law Fellow of the Jackson Center, Jamestown, N.Y. Since 2015 he holds the chair of criminal law, criminal procedure, international criminal law and public international law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg.

From 2012-2017 he was a member of the International Academic Commission at the Federal Ministry of Justice for Critical Study of the National Socialist Past. The final report of the Commission was published in 2016: The Rosenburg Files. The Federal Ministry of Justice and the Nazi Past. He is one of the vice-presidents of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.

Dr. Gurgen Petrossian, LL.M. is a senior research associate at the International Criminal Law Research Unit (ICLU) at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. He holds a Master degree in Law from Heidelberg University and a Bachelor degree in Law from Yerevan State University. He completed his PhD from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg in 2018. His research interests lie mainly in international law, international criminal law and human rights. From 2016-2019 he was the one of the main organisers of the “Nuremberg Moot Court” law competition. He was practicing as legal advisor in cases in Armenia and Madagascar. He is the president of German-Armenian Law Association.

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