REDRESS advocates for victims’ rights at annual gathering of ICC States Parties

REDRESS advocates for victims’ rights at annual gathering of ICC States Parties

REDRESS will join International Criminal Court States Parties in The Hague for the 17^th Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute to address issues central to the ICC’s operations from 5 to 12 December 2018.

This year, REDRESS will use the opportunity of the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute that established the ICC to recall the centrality of victims to the Rome Statute system.

On 11 December, during a breakfast meeting, REDRESS will participate in a side event on “Documenting Conflict and Atrocity-Related Sexual Violence Crimes in CAR, Iraq, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.” Participants will review efforts to strengthen the pedagogical foundations of documentation for conflict and atrocity-related sexual violence crimes, through the application of four country-specific supplements to the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The event is co-hosted by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy – Case Matrix Network, the Commission for International Justice and Accountability, the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) and REDRESS.

REDRESS andIICI jointly developed these country-specific documents.

Later that same day, REDRESS and the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) will host the panel discussion “Realising Victims’ Right to Reparation before the International Criminal Court”, during which REDRESS will present the findings of its new report on this issue.

Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, Second Vice President at the ICC, will be the keynote speaker. Other participants will be the H.E. Ambassador of Finland in The Netherlands, Katri Viinikka; Philip Ambach, Chief of the Victim Participation and Reparations Section; Lorraine Smith van Lin, Post-conflict Justice Adviser at at REDRESS; Allan Ngari, Senior Researcher at ISS, and Maître Mayombo Kassongo, Legal Representative of Victims on the Al Mahdi case.

Speakers will examine the ICC’s reparations efforts in the face of a conviction-based reparations scheme. They will also discuss the important role of the ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) and its dual mandate to implement reparations, and assist victims whether or not they are connected with a specific case.

With reparations awards made in three cases (Lubanga, Katanga and Al Mahdi), panellists will examine the ICC’s efforts to realise victims right to reparations despite the challenges and limitations of a conviction-based reparations scheme. They will also look at the important dual role of the Trust Fund for Victims to implement reparations and to provide assistance to victims of crime whether or not connected with a specific case.

On 12 December, REDRESS, Avocats Sans Frontières and Impunity Watch will co-host a panel discussion on “Victim Participation in Transitional Justice Contexts”. The event will highlight the importance and impact of victim participation in formal and informal justice processes in Uganda and Guatemala as well as the lessons that the ICC can learn from these national experiences.

Representatives of States, the ICC, international and national civil society and victims’ lawyers will explore some of the challenges and opportunities inherent in ensuring victim involvement in processes designed for their benefit.

In addition to hosting these side events, our Head of Law Alejandra Vicente will moderate a discussion following the screening of the film “The Prosecutors” on 7 December. The film tells the compelling story of three prosecutors in Colombia, Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and their plights to make sure that survivors of sexual violence in conflict get justice.

For more information about these events, please send an email to [email protected]