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29 Mich. J. Int'l L. 777 (2007-2008)
The Victims of Victim Participation in International Criminal Proceedings

handle is hein.journals/mjil29 and id is 789 raw text is: THE VICTIMS OF VICTIM PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS Charles P. Trumbull IV* I. THE RISE OF VICTIMS' RIGHTS ................................................. 780 A. The Victim Rights Movements ............................................ 780 B. Victims'Standing in Prosecutions ...................................... 784 C. Criticism of Ad Hoc Tribunals ........................................... 786 II. VICTIM RIGHTS IN THE ROME STATUTE ................................... 789 A. Victim Participation in the ICC ......................................... 790 B. Interpreting Article 68(3) of the Rome Statute .................. 793 1. Proceedings ................................................................. 794 2. View s and Concerns .................................................... 795 3. Personal Interests ........................................................ 797 III. EXAMINING VICTIM PARTICIPATION ......................................... 801 A. Arguments for Victim Participation ................................... 802 B. Traditional Arguments Do Not Apply to International Criminal Trials ............................................ 804 1. Effects on Participating Victims .................................. 804 2. The Cost for Unrecognized Victims ............................ 811 3. Future V ictim s ............................................................. 818 IV. DISTRIBUTIVE PROBLEM AND ITS IMPLICATIONS ...................... 820 A . Balancing Test ................................................................... 822 B . Recom m endations .............................................................. 824 C ON CLU SION ..................................................................................... 825 The preamble to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) provides a grave reminder that during this century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atroci- ties that deeply shock the conscience of humanity.' The emphasis on victims and human suffering in the preamble is intentional. Unlike the statutes of other international criminal tribunals, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Rome Statute makes the inter- ests of victims a high priority. Among other significant victim-oriented reforms, the Rome Statute grants victims extensive participatory rights in * Office of the Legal Adviser, U.S. State Department. B.A., Dartmouth College; J.D., Vanderbilt Law School. The author worked at the International Criminal Court from Septem- ber to December of 2007. The author would like to thank his colleagues at the ICC and Milan Markovic for many valuable conversations related to this Article. This Article reflects the author's personal views only. It does not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. State Department or the International Criminal Court. I. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court pmbl., July 17, 1998, 2187 U.N.T.S. 90 [hereinafter Rome Statute].