Darfur—Compensation for the Victims

Abstract

Although many international instruments provide for or make reference to a duty of states to afford remedies for gross violations of human rights or international crimes, normally, such instruments refrain from granting individuals a right to compensation, but rather enjoin the competent domestic bodies (the legislature as well as the judiciary) to ensure such right. This is because international lawmakers are well aware of the difficulties that would be raised by individual reparation claims based on international law. Reparation and, in particular, compensation must always be synchronized with the societal context of the relevant occurrences. This is all the more necessary since, contrary to what the UN Commission of Inquiry on Darfur has stated, there is no customary international rule governing individual reparation claims. On the other hand, to date, no general international forum for the assertion of such claims has come into being. Consequently, even proceedings involving `international` claims would have to be instituted before national tribunals, whereas in classical interstate relationships, domestic tribunals are never vested with jurisdiction - except in instances where the litigant parties so decide by mutual agreement.