The Protection of Victims under International Criminal Law

Abstract

For too long victims have been neglected in international criminal law. Most of the international criminal courts and tribunals established since Nuremberg to bring justice to victims of international crimes including the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda (ICTR) and International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia (ICTY), have not given their due consideration to the victims’ concerns. The Preamble of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court acknowledges the fact that 'during this century (20th century) millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity' and adopting the International Criminal Court (ICC) Statute has, however, been granted set of procedural rights for victims-reparations, participation, and protection. This paper starts by exploration of the development and growth of the victim’s rights in international law and, examine the extent to which victims’ interests are considered before the ICC. The endeavors have been made to define and understand the basic concepts central to the study such as victim, compensation, reparation, protection of victims and witnesses.