This volume considers a variety of key issues pertaining to the rights of defendants and victims at International Criminal Courts (ICTs) and explores how best to balance and enhance the rights of both in order to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of international criminal proceedings. The rights of victims are becoming an increasingly important issue at ICTs. Yet, at the same time, this has to be achieved without having a detrimental impact upon on the rights of the defence and the efficiency of the courts. This book provides analyses of issues on the rights of both the accused and the victims. By discussing matters concerning these two pivotal actors in international criminal justice within the same volume, the work highlights that there are intrinsic and intense conflicting and converging relationships between victims and the accused, particularly in terms of their rights. While most of the chapters focus mainly on either the accused or the victims, others discuss both at the same time. The work strikes a fine balance between, on the one hand, classic topics on the rights of the accused and the rights of the victims and, on the other, topics which have been largely unexplored and/or which require new angles or perspectives. Additionally, there are some chapters which approach both the rights of the accused and the rights of the victims in new contexts and/or under novel perspectives. The book as a whole provides a discussion of the two sides of this important coin of international criminal justice. The work will be an essential resource for academics, practitioners and students with an interest in the field of international criminal law. It will also be of interest to human rights scholars who are working with the rights of victims and the accused.

A universal criminal court : the emergence of an idea -- The global civil society campaign -- The victory : the independent prosecutor -- The defeat : no universal jurisdiction -- The controversy : gender and forced pregnancy -- The missed chance : banning weapons -- A global civil society achievement : why rejoice?

This volume presents an overview of the principal features of the legacy of International Tribunals and an assessment of their impact on the International Criminal Court and on the review process of the Rome Statute. It illustrates the foundation of a system of international criminal law and justice through the case-law and practices of the UN ad hoc tribunals and other internationally assisted tribunals and courts. These examples provide advice for possible future developments in international criminal procedure and law, with particular reference to their impact on the ICC and on national jurisdictions. The review process of the Rome Statute is approached as a step of a review process to provide a perspective of the developments in the field since the Statute’s adoption in 1998.

The book sets out in-depth studies of consensual case dispositions in the UK, examining how plea bargaining has developed and spread in England and Wales. It also goes on to discusses in detail the problems that this practise poses for the rule of law by avoiding procedural safe-guards. The book draws on empirical research in its examination of the absence of informal settlements in the former GDR, offering a unique insight into criminal procedure in a socialist legal system that has been little studied.

International Practices of Criminal Justice: Social and Legal Perspectives examines the practitioners, practices, and institutions that are transforming the relationship between criminal justice and international governance. The book links two dimensions of international criminal justice, by analyzing the fields of international criminal law and international police cooperation. Although often thought of separately, each of these fields presents criminal justice as a governance method for resolving international challenges and crises. By focusing on examples from international criminal tribunals, transitional justice, transnational crime, and transnational policing and prosecution, the contributors to this collection all examine how criminal justice is unmoored from the state, while also attending to the struggles and challenges that emerge when criminal justice is used as a form of international action. International Practices of Criminal Justice: Social and Legal Perspectives breaks new ground in criminology, international legal studies and the sociology of law, and will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners across a wide array of fields in criminal justice, international law, and international governance.

In The Right to Be Present at Trial in International Criminal Law Caleb H. Wheeler analyses what it means for the accused to be present during international criminal trials and how that meaning has changed. This book also examines the impact that absence from trial can have on the fair trial rights of the accused and whether those rights can be upheld outside of the accused’s presence. Using primary and secondary sources, Caleb Wheeler has identified four different categories of absence and how each affects the right to be present. This permits a more nuanced understanding of how the right to be present is understood in international criminal law and how it may develop in the future.

This book canvasses the autonomous position of victims before the International Criminal Court. It seeks to provide an objective and balanced perspective, and neither rejects the idea of victims’ participation nor seeks to extend it beyond the contours determined by the founders of the ICC. The author contributes to the existing debate in academia and in practice by delineating the core, most complex and contentious matters ensuing from the role assigned to victims. The scrupulously selected issues unveil and blueprint the essential characteristics that delimit the standing of victims as independent actors in the ICC’s arena, distinct from the parties and other non-party participants. As an integral part of the ICC’s synergy, victims converge and interact with its other components. Therefore, the position and role of victims are contemplated in the context of the Court’s procedural mechanism and the mission pursued by the parties and the Chamber. The philosophy underpinning the ICC’s design and the standing of victims therein also requires analysis from a wider perspective. Accordingly, the volume draws an in-depth parallel with relevant developments and trends at the international and domestic level. Close attention is paid to the legal instruments and jurisprudence of international(ized) criminal justice bodies, human rights institutions and non-criminal jurisdictions to the extent useful for shedding further light on the issues at hand. Recourse is also made to various national systems, whenever relevant.

Since World War II, there have been some 250 conflicts throughout the world, leaving between 70-170 million atrocity crime victims. Unlike diseases or natural disasters, the injuries and tragedies of war are largely self-inflicted. Created in response to such outrages, the International Criminal Court (ICC) stands as the first and only permanent juridical body prosecuting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court introduces readers to the most significant restorative feature of the ICC's procedure: direct victim participation in war crime trials. Under this new model, the ICC has given victims a voice to speak out against their abusers. T. Markus Funk presents the first comprehensive guidance on this innovative dynamic, analyzing not just the procedural rules that apply, but also the practical problems in advocating for victims before the ICC. In the process, Funk provides an overview of ICC trial procedure, a candid assessment of the performance of the ICC and its predecessor tribunals, and a guide to the development of victims' rights under international law. Not only does he identify areas needing reform and reconsideration, but he also provides readers with concrete solutions. Funk, an experienced federal prosecutor and law professor who has advised prosecutors and judges at criminal tribunals as the U.S. Justice Department's Resident Legal Advisor for Kosovo, draws on that experience to suggest ways in which the ICC can improve the lot of victims of the world's worst crimes. This second edition provides a detailed analysis of the newly recognized right of victims to participate in the trials of their accused abusers. The author guides the reader through this unique, controversial body of procedural and substantive rights for victims of atrocity crimes, and discusses how to qualify as Legal Counsel for Victims, and how to seek Reparations. In addition, the author provides updated caselaw and other information to reflect the ICC's current position on victim involvement and related procedure as well as text to show how these changes in the law affect ICC procedure and advocacy.

In recent times, the idea of 'victims' rights' has come to feature prominently in political, criminological and legal discourse, as well as being subject to regular media comment. The concept nevertheless remains inherently elusive, and there is still considerable ambiguity as to the origin and substance of such rights. This monograph deconstructs the nature and scope of the rights of victims of crime against the backdrop of an emerging international consensus on how victims ought to be treated and the role they ought to play. The essence of such rights is ascertained not only by surveying the plethora of international standards which deal specifically with crime victims, but also by considering the potential cross-applicability of standards relating to victims of abuse of power, with whom they have much in common. In this book Jonathan Doak considers the parameters of a number of key rights which international standards suggest victims ought to be entitled to. He then proceeds to ask whether victims are able to rely upon such rights within a domestic criminal justice system characterised by structures, processes and values which are inherently exclusionary, adversarial and punitive in nature.