International Criminal Justice and the Empowerment or Disempowerment of Victims

Abstract

This chapter examines ways in which international criminal justice processes may empower or disempower victims in their pursuit of justice. Critical scholars often argue that international criminal tribunals de-politicize, render passive, or otherwise disempower victims as agents of justice. Concerns about the powerlessness or disempowerment of victims in international criminal justice processes are central to debates about whether international criminal justice does in fact advance ‘justice for victims.’ Based on focus group discussions and interviews with survivors of conflict and international crimes in Kenya and Uganda, I argue that neither the laudatory nor critical positions in this debate capture the very complex and variegated effects of international criminal justice processes on victims. I develop this argument in four sections. Section One explains how issues of victim empowerment and disempowerment have been addressed in literature on the field of international criminal justice (ICJ). Section Two describes my approach to research conducted with survivors of violence in Kenya and Uganda. Section Three summarizes this research and identifies key aspirations, concerns, and judgements regarding empowerment and disempowerment by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Section Four analyzes these findings and argues that international criminal justice processes do not simply empower or disempower victims. Instead, tribunals are selective about who receives victim status, they channel people’s agency in particular ways, and their impact is highly context-dependent. As a result, victim status is not simply empowering or disempowering — it enhances the agency of some people in some contexts to pursue some justice aims, but it can also pose serious risks and constraints. The concluding section sketches some implications of this framework for understanding the power of international criminal justice, and for evaluating the capacity of international criminal tribunals to advance justice for victims.