CYIL 2013

THE ISSUE OF REPARATIONS BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT individual assessments. 36 Following the example of the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensations Commission (UNCC), where claims were categorized into six different sections according to two sets of criteria which take account of ‘urgent’ and ‘non-urgent’ claims made by individuals, governments, corporations and other organizations 37 , where consistency was undeniably an advantage; in the instance of the victims under the Lubanga case, the inflexibility of the civil compensation method is definitely too rigid to be used with such a large group of human rights abuses. Another example, which has been criticized for the same precision and consistency for which the UNCC system was appreciated, can be the method of compensating the victims of the September 11 tragedies developed by the government of the United States. To unify the assessment process, victims were given a flat amount for pain and suffering, which was added to the expected earning capacity of the decedent. 38 Eventually, this system failed to award appropriate compensation, as it failed to take into account many other factors, such as divorced parents or homosexual partners, and was too simplified. The examples show that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and the Trust Fund will have to be extra-careful in its assessment and create a flexible and consistent system for assessing loss and harm which will preferably take into account not only tangible, but also intangible damage. Another obstacle which the TFV will have to face is the disbursement of the awards. For instance, the September 11 th Fund and the Liberty Fund of the International Red Cross were widely criticized for not getting the money directly to the victims. 39 The former devoted a large part of the whole sum to community organizations to reimburse the money spent by municipalities for assistance in the tragedy. 40 The latter devoted portions of a $ 500 million fund to future disasters and administrative costs – which resulted in an apparent loss of credibility, the resignation of the President of the Red Cross, and, more importantly, the prolongation of the victim’s hardship. 41 The above-mentioned examples should work as a warning to the TFV, and consequently to the ICC, to not repeat the same mistakes while assessing and disbursing the awards to the victims under the Lubanga case. The ICC has placed some special emphasis on other modalities of reparations, namely establishing and assisting campaigns aimed at improvement of the victim’s position, issuing certificates acknowledging the harm particular individuals suffered, creating programs designed to inform the society about the outcome of the Trial, and 36 Dinah Shelton, Reparations for Victims of International Crimes, International Crimes, Peace, and Human Rights: The Role of the International Criminal Court , D. Shelton ed. 2000, pp. 140-41. 37 Peter G. Fischer, The Victims’ Trust Fund of the International Criminal Court- Formation of a Functional Reparations Scheme, Emory International Law Review , p. 225. 38 ibid., p. 226. 39 ibid., p. 227. 40 last accessed on 20 December 2012, 17 25 . 41 last accessed on 20 December 2012, 17 25 .