The Compensation by the international criminal judiciary

Abstract

The international community is showing an increasing interest in ensuring that international criminal justice takes into account the interests and rights of victims, and that this concern is not limited to the spectrum of accused only, since the middle of the last century, this interest has spawned the emergence of a new science, known as "victimology", this science has taken a parallel path to traditional criminology, opening a new chapter in the understanding of criminal behavior, as a human phenomenon, it includes a set of complex and multilateral relationships. The interest bore fruit when international conventions began to explicitly provide for ensuring justice for victims, this is what is stated in the fourth principle of the Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice regarding victims of crime and abuse of power, it states: “Victims shall be treated with compassion and respect for their dignity. They shall have the right to access justice mechanisms and to obtain immediate reparation, in accordance with national legislation in relation to the harm they have suffered”. The pursuit of justice does not stop at convicting the accused of international crimes, but also extends to caring for people whose rights have been violated as a result, this is what the International Criminal Court adopted, when its Statute affirmed that the interests of international criminal justice and the interests of victims go hand in hand, the preamble to the Rome Statute states that ensuring justice for victims of humanitarian atrocities is a right that cannot be overlooked. Especially since millions of children and women have fallen during the current century as victims of unimaginable horrors, which have strongly shaken the conscience of humanity. Thus, the International Criminal Court has paid more attention to the rights of victims than the temporary international criminal courts. The Statute of the International Criminal Court committed to balancing the rights of victims and the rights of the accused in international criminal proceedings, It included an important issue at the level of international trials, which is the right of victims and to obtain reparation for the harm they suffered (compensation) as a result of the international crimes committed against them