Victim Participation at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia: Challenges to the Civil Party Framework and Lessons for the Future

<p>This paper examines the victim participation framework at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC or Court), established to deal with crimes during the Khmer Rouge regime. The background which has led to the creation of the ECCC will be explained, before the paper will look at the way the Court is structured to include civil parties. The Court has consistently limited the civil parties’ role since its establishment and these limitations and the justifications are outlined in the paper. Solutions in the context of the ECCC are then considered, although due to the political environment, no changes in favour of victim rights are likely. Future models are considered, with the benefits of a Truth and Conciliation Commission’s analysed by looking at Sierra Leone and East Timor, as examples of successful frameworks where both a Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceeded simultaneously. This paper concludes that although every situation requiring a judicial response will be different, the option of having both a Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can fulfil multiple victim needs.</p>

Victim Participation at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia: Challenges to the Civil Party Framework and Lessons for the Future

<p>This paper examines the victim participation framework at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC or Court), established to deal with crimes during the Khmer Rouge regime. The background which has led to the creation of the ECCC will be explained, before the paper will look at the way the Court is structured to include civil parties. The Court has consistently limited the civil parties’ role since its establishment and these limitations and the justifications are outlined in the paper. Solutions in the context of the ECCC are then considered, although due to the political environment, no changes in favour of victim rights are likely. Future models are considered, with the benefits of a Truth and Conciliation Commission’s analysed by looking at Sierra Leone and East Timor, as examples of successful frameworks where both a Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceeded simultaneously. This paper concludes that although every situation requiring a judicial response will be different, the option of having both a Court and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can fulfil multiple victim needs.</p>

“They feel like it’s all based around the offender”: Professionals explore how victim participation in family group conferences can be enhanced

INTRODUCTION: The Family Group Conference (FGC) is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most innovative features to emerge in the Oranga Tamariki Act (1989). It was designed to address the harm caused by youth offending, as well as set the scene for reconciliation to allow victims to heal. However, victim participation at such conferences remains low.METHODS: This study focused on a 6-month pilot project in 2019 between the agencies of New Zealand Police, Oranga Tamariki and Victim Support, that aimed to increase victim participation at FGCs within the Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) area. Rates of victim participation were tracked and six professionals were interviewed for their observations on the pilot.FINDINGS: Victim participation in FGCs increased during the project and interviewees identified that there had been more collaborative efforts between the professionals involved. Thematic analysis highlighted issues with 1) Agency processes and systems (with more training and resources needed, and more streamlined processes between the three agencies called for); 2) Information (youth justice information and cases were “too complicated,” and tended to be offender-focused, not necessarily understanding victim’s perspectives nor getting feedback from them); and 3) Timing (improved processes were needed around timely police referrals and there were effects of timeframes overall on victim participation).CONCLUSIONS: Participants recommended building on this exploratory pilot to increase and maintain better outcomes. The importance of victims being well-prepared for FGCs, feeling well-supported in making an in-person submission, in culturally appropriate ways, needs timely collaboration between well-trained and well-resourced professionals from the agencies involved.

The Victims’ Court? An Analysis of the Participation of Victims of Sexual Violence in International Criminal Proceedings

The inclusion of a victim participation scheme within the framework of the ICC is revolutionary under the domain of International Criminal Law. The scheme grants unprecedented rights for victims to participate in proceedings outside of witness capacity, as provided for at the ad hoc tribunals. This article aims to critically evaluate the ICC’s victim participation scheme for victims of sexual violence. It will do so by investigating the participation scheme to establish whether it embodies inherent limits, and, if so, to assess the impact of these limitations on victims of sexual violence. While the inclusion of a participation scheme for victims is commendable, this paper finds that there is still a long way to go before victims of sexual violence have access to a form of participation that is meaningful, in that it encompasses the participation envisaged in the provisions of the Rome Statute and considers victims’ needs and expectations. This article argues that several institutional and procedural changes are required before victims of sexual violence are adequately served by the participation scheme. Lessons learnt from practice include the need for a harmonised participation procedure, providing victims of sexual violence with an influence on the charges brought against an accused, assigning collective legal representation based on crimes suffered, and encouraging resource allocation into investigating sexual crimes and non-judicial programmes that will benefit victims of sexual violence that are unable to access participatory and reparatory rights.

The Contribution of Female Judges to the Victim Jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court

This chapter argues that female judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have made significant meaningful contributions to the ICC jurisprudence on victim matters. They have interpreted and applied the ICC legal framework on victims, have fleshed out the contours and scope of normative provisions, and have faced substantive and procedural issues on victim-witness protection, victim participation and reparations at the ICC. This chapter uses international human rights as a standard to assess the legitimacy of ICC jurisprudence. The jurisprudence on defence rights has largely sought to strike a balance between defence and victim rights. However, some jurisprudence on victims (partially) construed by female judges prompts questions on whether respect for defence rights or other ICC goals may have been compromised. It is argued that all ICC judges, including female judges, should take distance from excessive pro-victim judicial activism to fully respect defence rights, and avoid victim frustration.

International and Comparative Legal Perspectives on Victim Participation in Criminal Justice

Victim participation in common law has evolved across history and jurisdictions. Historical developments within conceptions of crime, harms, and victims in common law as well as the different victims’ movements provide an understanding of the ways that victim participation has been shaped in more-recent common law criminal justice systems. Victim participation in the criminal legal process has also given rise to various debates, which suggests that providing active forms of engagement to victims remains controversial. The forms of victim participation are also diverse, and the literature has provided typologies of victim participation. Forms of participation also vary across jurisdictions and the different stages of the criminal justice process, including prosecutorial decisions, pretrial and trial proceedings, sentencing, parole, and clemency. Finally, research that focuses on victim participation in legal traditions beyond the common law would provide an additional and important contribution to the field.

The pressures of getting it right: Expertise and victims’ voices in the work of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)

Abstract∞ This article contributes to scholarship on power, agency and ownership in professional transitional justice. It explores and details the relationship between ‘professional’ agency arising from recognized expertise and ‘unprofessional’ voices relaying lived experiences, concerns and needs. I approach this relationship via a microperspective on the work of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2002-2004), specifically its work on women and sexual violence, which the commission was mandated to pay special attention to. Based on interviews and rich archival materials, I show how this work was driven by the notion that there was a right way of dealing with women and sexual violence. To avoid mistakes, commissioners and staff members demanded and relied on recognized expertise. This led to a marginalization of victims’ voices. I argue that, to some degree at least, such marginalization belongs to professional transitional justice and will persist despite improved victim participation.

‘We Will Not Go Away’

This chapter studies the participation of victims in international criminal tribunals. Victim participation in international criminal trials has been uneven. Historically, prosecutors often have side-lined victim testimony in favour of documentary or physical evidence or assumed that justice for victims equated to retributive punishment of offenders. In recent decades, however, victims have become more active contributors in criminal investigations and proceedings. Victim participation at all stages of the Hissène Habré trial, for example, suggests a growing trend towards greater victim inclusion in international and national criminal trials. As such, it is incumbent on court personnel, as well as international justice researchers and practitioners, to better understand the diverse needs of victims and how they can be best supported before, during, and after trials.

Reparations and the Habré Trial in Context

This chapter focuses on the particular problem of victim satisfaction, considering reparations. One of the interesting features of the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) is that its victim participation scheme allows individual victims of crime to submit claims for reparations. The promise that reparations can be delivered through international criminal justice has now been around for more than two decades, but the first practice has only emerged in the last few years. The adjudication of the first reparations claims before the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) has been arduous and revealed disagreement within and outside these courts over the nature, extent, and purpose of reparations in an international criminal justice framework. Considerable uncertainty surrounds whether these reparations schemes can live up to expectations placed upon them. It is in this context that an examination and a comparative discussion of the EAC's approach to reparations might provide some fruitful insights.