After many years of legal struggle, nine widows from the Indonesian village of Rawagede have each been awarded 20,000 euros compensation by the Dutch government for war crimes committed in 1947. On their arrival back home it was clear that the rest of the community in West Java where Dutch troops murdered 431 people were not happy.

Professor Rianne Letschert sees this as an example of how the justice system fails victims. In her inaugural speech at the University of Tilburg, she called for a different form of compensation for war crimes in which there are sometimes hundreds of victims.

“In Rawagede 20,000 euros essentially makes you a millionaire. It has disrupted the balance of the village. I think you have to realise that payments of this kind can do things that are not necessarily positive.”

Letschert is professor of victimology and international law specialising in mass victimisation, the large numbers of victims caused by war crimes. Compensation and damages owing to victims is a tricky subject.

“The problem with international law is that is too much focused on individual cases. You have a crime and a victim who has a right to compensation. In that context you can invent and apply all kinds of victims’ rights, but they are much more difficult to implement when mass victimisation is involved.”

ICC projects
She suggests it is often better to set up development projects to benefit the society involved. That is something the International Criminal Court’s Trust Fund for Victims is involved with. It sets up projects in countries where the ICC has jurisdiction to assist victims there. Senior programme officer Kristin Kalla:

"We currently provide rehabilitation assistance in northern Uganda and eastern DRC to victims under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. For example, we focus on supporting young people who were abducted, enlisted and/or conscripted into armed groups and have now returned to their communities."

"Many young girls have also returned with babies after the abduction and these are often born out of rape, so we are providing much needed support for these child mothers to assist in their rehabilitation in the hopes of also strengthening their bond with their children and extended families."

"In the context of northern Uganda, many victims of the LRA were mutilated, had their lips, noses and ears cut off. For these victims, the Trust Fund is the only organisation that has funded plastic surgery interventions and trauma-based counselling for these victims following the conflict.”

Child soldiers in the DRC
Apart from projects of this kind, the TFV also carries out payment of any claims for damages. Since the ICC has yet to pass any official sentences, the TFV is focused on its projects for the time being.

This work is capable of reaching more victims than a claim for compensation. In the case of the court versus the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga, for instance, the main issue is the child soldiers he recruited. Should it reach a conviction, only the former child soldiers will be compensated not the many other people who suffered as a result of his crimes.

Budgets
Given that the TFV has three million euros at its disposal, no everyone can be compensated. Professor Letschert regard it as much too little but she is positive about the TFV:

“You always have to look at what is feasible and not spend too much time on fine ideals and utopian concepts. With a budget like that you can’t expect them to be able to compensate all kinds of victims. So whatever they can do to benefit the community in this way, I’m in favour of it.”

A lack of funds is often a barrier to compensation, Letschert points out: 

“Take Rwanda as an example, where there were thousands of victims. If you have so many victims and a state which is in a state of post-war reconstruction, there is often no budget to offer victims compensation at an individual level.”

Who is the victim?
There is a further complication in Rwanda. Some people may be victims in one case and perpetrators in another.

“Where is the dividing line which determines if you’re a perpetrator or a victim? During the genocide Hutus were called upon to murder their Tutsi neighbours as quickly as possible. If they didn’t respond, they and their families would be murdered. How do you deal with that?”

Carla Ferstman of the London-based aid organisation Redress is clear about that:

“I don’t think it has to be a problem. A victim is a victim and has a right to compensation, whether or not he or she is a perpetrator in another context.”

Redress provides legal aid to victims of torture and war crimes.

“Our hope is that the outcome of a case helps the victims. Of course, it depends on the type of crime what kind of compensation victims should receive.”

Recognition is key
Money, development projects or legal aid apart, there is one overriding issue for victims. Letschert, Kalla and Ferstman all agree: recognition of the wrong the victim has suffered. Rianne Letschert adds:

“In the case of the survivors of the massacre in Rawagede, it means a school can be built there, for example. The important thing is that the relatives of the victims feel their suffering has been recognised.”

(imm/tt)