Human rights victims lose out in the ICC debacle

This research paper discusses the restorative justice mandate of the International Criminal Court (ICC), specifically focusing on the role of the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) in providing reparations and assistance to victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

• On 24 March 2017, the ICC issued its first individual financial compensation order for victims of the 2003 Bogoro village attack in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Each of the 297 identified victims received a symbolic compensation of $250, in addition to collective reparations.
• The ICC's mandate combines retributive justice, which focuses on punishing perpetrators and combatting impunity, with restorative justice through a reparations regime established by the Rome Statute.
• The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV), which entered into force on 1 July 2002, implements court-ordered reparations and provides material, physical, and psychological assistance. Because the convicted warlord Germain Katanga was found to be indigent, the TFV is responsible for implementing the reparations for the Bogoro victims, including support for education, housing, psychological aid, and income-generating activities.
• Since 2008, the TFV has supported more than 45,000 direct victims and 300,000 total beneficiaries. Its operations include rehabilitation programmes across three provinces in Eastern DRC and eighteen districts in Northern Uganda, and it is mandated to provide support in all nine African cases referred to the ICC.
• The author argues that the ICC is currently the only viable permanent instrument for providing justice and assistance to victims of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Consequently, any decision by member states to withdraw from the court should prioritize the needs of the victims.

APA

South African Institute of International Affairs (2017). Human rights victims lose out in the ICC debacle. https://saiia.org.za/research/human-rights-victims-lose-out-in-the-icc-debacle/

Chicago

South African Institute of International Affairs. Human rights victims lose out in the ICC debacle. 2017. https://saiia.org.za/research/human-rights-victims-lose-out-in-the-icc-debacle/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=South African Institute of International Affairs |title=Human rights victims lose out in the ICC debacle |date=9 May 2017 |url=https://saiia.org.za/research/human-rights-victims-lose-out-in-the-icc-debacle/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{southafricaninstituteofinternationalaffairs2017human, author = {{South African Institute of International Affairs}}, title = {{Human rights victims lose out in the ICC debacle}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2017}, month = may, url = {https://saiia.org.za/research/human-rights-victims-lose-out-in-the-icc-debacle/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }