ABSTRACT
The participation of victims in proceedings before the International Criminal Court (hereafter, ‘ICC’ or ‘the Court’) constitutes a unique phenomenon in the still expanding spectrum of judicial solutions to international crime.2 Considered one of the major innovations of the Rome Statute, the role and rights ascribed to victims in the ICC’s normative texts was a belated attempt to remedy a perceived lacuna at the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) where victims were treated as mere passive objects within an adversarial judicial context in which prosecution interests and defence rights were considered top priority.3 Criticised for their failure to adopt an inclusive approach
1 Programme Manager, International Bar Association (IBA) ICC Programme The views expressed herein are those of the author and not the IBA. The author is grateful for the extensive research assistance provided by Rens van der Werf and Maria Radziejowska for this chapter
2 The victims’ rights provisions in the ICC legal texts were influenced by the UN GA, Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, UN Doc A/RES/40/34 (29 November 1985) which acknowledged the harm suffered by millions of victims around the world and the necessity of adopting national and international measures to secure the universal and effective respect for their rights.
