The Right To A Remedy And To Reparation For Gross Human Rights Violations

Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity: Systems in Place and Systems in the Making provides a rich tapestry of practice in the complex and evolving field of reparations, which cuts across law, politics, psychology and victimology, among other disciplines. Ferstman and Goetz bring their long experiences with international organizations and civil society groups to bear. This second edition, which comes a decade after the first, contains updated information and many new chapters and reflections from key experts. It considers the challenges for victims to pursue reparations, looking from multiple angles at the Holocaust restitution movement and more recent cases in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. It also highlights the evolving practice of international courts and tribunals. First published in a hardbound edition, this second, fully revised and updated edition, is now available in paperback.

Dinah Shelton provides a comprehensive treatment of remedies for human rights violations reviews the jurisprudence of international tribunals on these violations. The text provides a theoretical framework and a practical guide for lawyers, judges, and academics interested in human rights law.

This book provides detailed analyses of systems that have been established to provide reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the way in which these systems have worked and are working in practice. Many of these systems are described and assessed for the first time in an academic publication. The publication draws upon a groundbreaking Conference organised by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre (CNRC) and REDRESS at the Peace Palace in The Hague, with the support of the Dutch Carnegie Foundation. Both CNRC and REDRESS had become very concerned about the extreme difficulty encountered by most victims of serious international crimes in attempting to access effective and enforceable remedies and reparation for harm suffered. In discussions between the Conference organisers and Judges and officials of the International Criminal Court, it became ever more apparent that there was a great need for frank and open exchanges on the question of effective reparation, between the representatives of victims, of NGOs and IGOs, and other experts. It was clear to all that the many current initiatives of governments and regional and international institutions to afford reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes could benefit greatly by taking into full account the wide and varied practice that had been built up over several decades. In particular, the Hague Conference sought to consider in detail the long experience of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (the Claims Conference) in respect of Holocaust restitution programmes, as well as the practice of truth commissions, arbitral proceedings and a variety of national processes to identify common trends, best practices and lessons. This book thus explores the actions of governments, as well as of national and international courts and commissions in applying, processing, implementing and enforcing a variety of reparations schemes and awards. Crucially, it considers the entire complex of issues from the perspective of the beneficiaries - survivors and their communities - and from the perspective of the policy-makers and implementers tasked with resolving technical and procedural challenges in bringing to fruition adequate, effective and meaningful reparations in the context of mass victimisation.

Christine Evans assesses the right to reparation for victims of armed conflict in international law and in national practice.

Over the last decade, the issue of reparation for victims of gross and systematic human rights violations has given rise to intense debates at the national and the international level. Discussions particularly arise in post-conflict situations characterised by serious violations of human rights, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other forms of injustice of the past. Crucial questions include: what harm inflicted to victims warrants reparation? when and how to repair the harm? who is eligible for reparation and who has the duty to repair? These and other questions raise many challenging issues for theory and practice. This volume contains the contributions presented at an international conference in Brussels, in February 2005, on the right to reparation for victims of serious human rights violations. It also includes the final report of a research project undertaken jointly at the Universities of Antwerp (UA) and Leuven (K.U.Leuven) between 2000 and 2004 on the right to reparation in international law for victims of gross and systematic human rights violations, both from a legal and a socio-political perspective. The present volume is aimed at academics, policy-makers, national and international courts and tribunals, the legal professions, and civil society at large.