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THE ISSUE OF REPARATIONS BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
THE ISSUE OF REPARATIONS
BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
CASE STUDY PROSECUTOR V. THOMAS LUBANGA DYILO
Agata Foksa
Abstract
: The following article is concerned with the issue of reparations before
the International Criminal Court in its very first judgment, delivered in the case of
Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
. It analyzes the potential threats and challenges
related to this issue, such as the method of calculating, the disbursement of the
awards or the question of non-pecuniary damages, based on examples such as the
ECHR, IACHR or the Liberty Fund of the Red Cross. It also addresses the issue of
victims’ participation and the necessary improvements which need to be made with
regard to it, as this is still vague and inconsistent at this point.
Resumé
: Článek se zabývá otázkou reparací před Mezinárodním trestním soudem,
jak o nich rozhodl ve svém prvním rozsudku v případě
Prosecutor v. Thomas Luban-
ga Dyilo
. Článek analyzuje potenciální hrozby a výzvy týkající se této otázky, jako
je způsob výpočtu, vyplácení přisouzených náhrad či problematiku nepeněžitého
odškodnění, a to na základě příkladů, jako jsou Evropská úmluva o lidských prá-
vech (ECHR), Meziamerická komise pro lidská práva (IACHR) nebo Liberty fon-
dem Červeného kříže. Zabývá se také otázkou účasti obětí a nezbytnými zlepšeními
v této oblasti, které musí být provedeny s ohledem na nejasnosti a nekonzistentnost
v této oblasti.
Key words
: International Criminal Court, Reparations, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo,
Trust Fund for Victims, Victims’ participation, Justice for victims, Restorative
justice
On the Author
: Agata Foksa (1990)
cum laude
graduate of the International
and European Law Programme (LLB) at the Hague University, LLM student of
Wroclaw University, former intern at the Open Society Justice Initiative.
Introduction
Since 2009 the international community has been carefully observing how
the International Criminal Court (ICC) is conducting its first trial against Thomas
Lubanga Dyilo. From the very beginning it seemed like the Court’s viability was
being tested, instead of the guilt of the accused. The judgment, which was issued on
14 March 2012, was welcomed ambiguously, starting with the very critical attitude
embodied in headlines such as ‘The ICC’s First Trial: Milestones Mixed with Near-
Disasters’ and ‘Long Proceedings in Trial of Thomas Lubanga Finally Reach End’, and
finishing with loudly expressed admiration: ‘NPWJ welcomes milestone of first ICC
judgment in the Lubanga case and landmark decision for the protection of children’.