Victims and International Law: Remedies in the Courtroom?
This article examines the role of victims in both international and domestic criminal trials, analysing the value or otherwise of participatory and other procedural rights for victims, and particularly questioning some attempts which purported to 'rebalance' the system in recent years which had the effect of taking rights away from the accused. In conclusion it is argued that, while it may not be self-evident at the outset, the most imperative element for victims in the criminal justice system is granting the accused a fair trial, as opposed to the scope and volume of procedural rights which have been painted as necessary to give deference to the victim's suffering in recent years. The author strongly advocates for 'service rights' for victims − this includes information, counseling, reparation, and being allowed to give their statements after a determination of guilt −as opposed to 'procedural rights,' such as participation as a party to the trial and influencing prosecutorial decision-making.
The right to justice for victims of human rights crimes
The past three decades have seen increasing concern in the international community for the need to more effectively ‘do justice’ for victims of mass atrocities. At the same time, there is a growing recognition that such justice includes, together with the need to ensure that appropriate reparation is provided to victims, the criminal accountability of those responsible for the most serious crimes. This thesis argues that there is an intrinsic relationship between these two emerging values. In particular, it demonstrates that a right to justice, understood as the right to the determination of the individual criminal responsibility of wrongdoers, is emerging under international law as an imperative remedy for victims of gross human rights violations and international crimes, alongside more traditional forms of reparation. The development of victims’ right to justice invites a reconsideration of the role and the rights of victims in criminal proceedings. It is argued that if victims have a right to the prosecution of human rights offenders as an integral component of their right to remedy, it is legitimate to assert that they should also be granted corresponding procedural rights in the criminal process. Through an extensive review of international legal instruments and practice and a comparative analysis of domestic criminal justice systems, this study demonstrates that the role of victims and the rights they possess in criminal proceedings have considerably expanded during the past three decades. The most significant development can be found in the law and practice of international and internationalized criminal tribunals, where procedures have been introduced aimed at enabling victims to participate in the proceedings. The incorporation of a regime of victim redress within the framework of international criminal tribunals not only represents an extension of the mandate of international criminal justice but also confirms a shift in the way in which redress is conceptualised at the international level. vii Acknowledgements This thesis benefited from the insightful comments, advice and support of several people. First and foremost, I wish to thank my supervisor Professor Francesco Francioni for his guidance, his readiness to discuss ideas and for his ongoing encouragement. I am also grateful to Professor Nehal Bhuta, Professor Micaela Frulli and Judge Sylvia Steiner for agreeing to sit on the jury for my PhD defence and for providing valuable comments on this study. I equally wish to thank the members of the EUI Working Group on International Criminal Law, an excellent forum for testing my assumptions and arguments and for developing new ones. During my time as a PhD researcher at the EUI I had the opportunity to visit a number of institutions. I wish to thank, in particular, the staff of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and both the Office of the Pre-Trial Judge and the Victims’ Participation Unit of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. In these institutions I met several people who gave me expert advice on the procedure of international criminal tribunals and who helped me develop my ideas. This thesis would not have come to light without the never-ending support of my family and friends. I am particularly indebted to my parents, Tina and Massimo, who sparked and nurtured my love for learning and who have always been willing to listen – to my recitals of nursery rhymes when I was three years old and conference presentations later on. For as long as I can recall, I have always tested my ideas out on them before setting them down on paper. My heartfelt thanks go to Omar for his love and understanding and for having taught me how to strike a balance between work and family time. Lastly, all my gratitude goes to the late Professor Antonio Cassese, to whose memory this thesis is dedicated, who first introduced me to the study of international law and co-supervised this thesis. His restless dedication to imagining further and better ways to protect and promote human rights will remain my lifelong inspiration.
Repair or Revenge: Victims and Restorative Justice
1. The Victim in Criminal Justice 2. Victims of Crime and the Victim Movement 3. The Theory and Practice of Restorative Justice 4. The Reintegrative Shaming Experiments: Research Design and Methodology 5. The Lived Experience of Victims: How Restorative Justice Worked in Canberra 6. Victim Satisfaction with the Restorative Alternative 7. Victims and Offenders: A Relational Analysis 8. Conclusion