Realizing Reparative Justice For International Crimes

Provides an original approach to the emerging practice of reparations for international crimes and a fresh analysis of the recent jurisprudence at the International Criminal Court.

"The concept of justice, in all its dimensions1, is one of the most ancient, complex, and controversial notions known to humanity. Yet, horrific crimes and mass victimization have remained a defining feature of humankind. In the past, this criminal conduct has been met with a variety of responses, most of which claim to fit within a narrative of "justice""--

International criminal justice is challenged to better reflect legitimate victim interest. This book provides a framework for achieving synthesis between restorative and retributive dimensions within international criminal trials in order to achieve the peace-making aspirations of the International Criminal Court.

Combining interdisciplinary techniques with original ethnographic fieldwork, Christoph Sperfeldt examines the first attempts of international criminal courts to provide reparations to victims of mass atrocities. The observations focus on two case studies: the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, where Sperfeldt spent over ten years working at and around, and the International Criminal Court's interventions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Enriched with first-hand observations and an awareness of contextual dynamics, this book directs attention to the 'social life of reparations' that too often get lost in formal accounts of law and its institutions. Sperfeldt shows that reparations are constituted and contested through a range of practices that produce, change, and give meaning to reparations. Appreciating the nature and effects of these practices provides us with a deeper understanding of the discrepancies that exist between the reparations ideal and how it functions imperfectly in different contexts.

The book analyses the difficulties the International Criminal Court faces with the definition of those persons who are eligible for participating in the proceedings. Establishing justice for victims is one of the most important aims of the court. It therefore created a unique system of victim participation. Since its first trial the court struggles to live up to the expectancies its statute has generated. The book offers a new approach of how to define victimhood by looking at the different international crimes. It seeks to offer guidance for the right to participate in the different stages of the proceedings by looking at the practice in national jurisdictions. Lastly the book offers insights into the functioning of the reparation regime at the ICC by virtue of the Trust Fund for Victim and its different mandates. The critical analysis of the ICC-practice with regard to definition, participation and reparation aims at promoting a realistic approach, which will avoid the disappointing of expectations and thus help to enhance the acceptance of the ICC.

The Politics of International Criminal Law is an interdisciplinary collection of original research that examines the often noted but understudied political dimensions of International Criminal Law, and the challenges this nascent legal regime faces to its legitimacy in world affairs.

The expression “transitional justice” emerged at the end of the Cold War, during the transition from dictatorships to democracies, and serves as a central concept in dealing with systemic injustice. This textbook examines the basic principles of transitional justice and explores its core mechanisms, including prosecutions, amnesties, truth commissions, reparations, and vetting the public service. It elaborates the substance and legal framework of these mechanisms and discusses current challenges. The book provides extensive material illustrating a wide variety of transitional justice situations. “This book summarizes the subjects of transitional justice and Vergangenheitsbewältigung systematically and clearly” (Joachim Gauck, German Federal President, 2012-2017).

Changing Actors in International Law explores actors other than the ‘state’ in international law focusing on under-researched actors (quasi-states, trans-government networks, Indigenous Peoples, self-determination claimant groups) as well the less well studied aspects of otherwise well-researched actors (individuals, corporations, NGOs, armed organised groups).