The Rights of Victims in Criminal Justice Proceedings for Serious Human Rights Violations addresses a question of critical importance to policy-makers, international lawyers, academics, and affected societies throughout the world: Should victims of serious human rights violations be granted under international law the rights of access to and participation in criminal proceedings before international, hybrid and domestic tribunals? Juan Carlos Ochoa applies a thorough analysis of international and comparative domestic law and practice to this question, taking into account a host of international human rights instruments and case law, the theory, law and practice of international and hybrid criminal tribunals, the law and practice in several domestic jurisdictions, and many theoretical and empirical studies. After first determining the current state of, and emerging trends in, international law in this area, he argues that the lack of recognition of these rights under customary international law is inadequate, because access to and participation in criminal proceedings for victims of these infringements are based on several internationally recognised human rights and principles, contribute to the expressivist objectives of these procedures, and are consistent with the principles that inform the enforcement of criminal law in democratic States. On this basis, Ochoa convincingly suggests concrete reforms.

International standards on the rights and interests of the victims of crime -- International consensus on crime victims' rights and interests -- Crime victims' rights in US domestic law -- US adherence to international standards on the rights and interests of crime victims -- Recommendations -- Acknowledgements.

Progressive criminal justice systems are increasingly paying attention to the need to protect victims psychologically, physically, financially and legally. The so-called “victim-oriented approach” is becoming a popular tendency. This approach assumes that the victim, his/her protection and interests should be more prioritized in the criminal process. Such an approach requires balancing of this process taking into account victims’ interests, especially where the focus has been on the offender. In the post-Soviet countries, the retributive system still prevails: the key is the retribution to the offender and bringing him to justice. However, under such a system, victims of crime and their violated rights remain in the shadow. Ukrainian law contains a wide range of victims’ rights allowing them to actively participate in the investigation of crime and subsequent trial. However, in practice many of them remain a declaration. Moreover, the national criminal justice system sometimes not only does not restore violated rights, but also causes to victims repeated psychological trauma – secondary victimization. The very concept of protecting the victim from secondary victimization is unknown to the Ukrainian law and practice. Of all the offences, violent crimes have the most devastating consequences. The right to life and physical integrity is fundamental, and its violation has particularly serious consequences for victims, their relatives and society as a whole. Moreover, the process of investigating these crimes carries the high risk of secondary victim-isation1. It can cause moral suffering of victims who are forced to experience the negative psychological consequences of the crime over and over again2. The legal concept of violence has been constantly changing. At present, it covers not only physical but also psychological, economic, sexual and other violence. However, the Criminal Code of Ukraine does not contain a separate list of violent crimes. Therefore, for the purposes of this study, we analysed the state of protection of victims from the most typical violent crimes: premeditated murder (Article 115 of the Criminal Code); bodily injuries of all degrees (Articles 121, 122, 125 of the Criminal Code); domestic violence (Article 126-1 of the Criminal Code); rape (Article 152 of the Criminal Code), sexual violence (Article 153 of the Criminal Code); theft committed publicly and combined with violence (Part 2 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code); robbery (Article 187 of the Criminal Code). The number of victims of crime remains consistently high: 374 thousand in 2017, 345 thousand in 2018, 302 thousand in 2019. Of them have died as a consequence of crime 6.5 thousand (2017), 6.2 thousand (2018), 5.8 thousand (2019)3. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine estimates that in 2018, the most serious intentional violent crimes in Ukraine caused death or bodily injuries to 24.4 thousand victims. In this context, the authors of the present study set themselves the goal to analyse in detail the existing legal framework on the rights of victims as well as the practice of its application. Further, our analysis will be carried out from the point of view of modern standards of victims’ rights, which are little known in Ukraine. First of all, we drew attention to the state of implementation of the European Union Directive establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime. This document is not binding for Ukraine, but it needs to be implemented in our country in terms of the European Union integration process. The Directive has become a powerful tool for protecting the rights of victims in the EU countries and it requires regular reporting by the EU member states on the status of its implementation. However, the standards provided by the Directive, in particular as regards protection against secondary victimization, are not yet reflected in the national legislation, despite the EU’s efforts to implement them in Ukraine. Moreover, these standards for the protection of victims’ rights have not been implemented, despite the fact that they are also contained in the Council of Europe on assistance to crime victims, and Ukraine is a member of this organisation7. The standards of protection of victims are comprehensive as they relate not only to the procedural aspects of the investigation and trial, but also to providing support to victims, such as psychological support. Therefore, our study focuses not only on the legal aspects of victims’ protection, but also on the mechanisms of support and protection of victims by the state. Another aspect that we will pay attention to is the compensation of victims for the damage caused by crimes. Ukraine has not yet established a mechanism to compensate victims of violent crimes, despite the signing and efforts to ratify the relevant Council of Europe convention. Thus, we will analyse the existing compensation practices in the context of lack of such a mechanism. The above-mentioned Council of Europe recommendation encourages States to promote and support research on the protection of victims. Among other things, such studies should focus on: – criminal victimisation and its impact on victims; – the effectiveness of legislative and other measures for the support and protection of victims of crime – both in criminal justice and in the community; – the effectiveness of intervention by criminal justice agencies and victim services (paragraph 17 of the Recommendation). We hope that our study adheres to these guidelines, and will be a fertile ground for further development of research in the sphere of protection of victims’ rights in Ukraine.

This book analyses the rights of crime victims within a human rights paradigm, and describes the inconsistencies resulting from attempts to introduce the procedural rights of victims within a criminal justice system that views crime as a matter between the state and the offender, and not as one involving the victim. To remedy this problem, the book calls for abandoning the concept of crime as an infringement of a state’s criminal laws and instead reinterpreting it as a violation of human rights. The state’s right to punish the offender would then be replaced by the rights of victims to see those responsible for violating their human rights convicted and punished and by the rights of offenders to be treated as accountable agents.

The past three decades have seen increasing concern in the international community for the need to more effectively 'do justice' for victims of mass atrocities. At the same time, there is a growing recognition that such justice includes, together with the need to ensure that appropriate reparation is provided to victims, the criminal accountability of those responsible for the most serious crimes. This thesis argues that there is an intrinsic relationship between these two emerging values. In particular, it demonstrates that a right to justice, understood as the right to the determination of the individual criminal responsibility of wrongdoers, is emerging under international law as an imperative remedy for victims of gross human rights violations and international crimes, alongside more traditional forms of reparation. The development of victims' right to justice invites a reconsideration of the role and the rights of victims in criminal proceedings. It is argued that if victims have a right to the prosecution of human rights offenders as an integral component of their right to remedy, it is legitimate to assert that they should also be granted corresponding procedural rights in the criminal process. Through an extensive review of international legal instruments and practice and a comparative analysis of domestic criminal justice systems, this study demonstrates that the role of victims and the rights they possess in criminal proceedings have considerably expanded during the past three decades. The most significant development can be found in the law and practice of international and internationalized criminal tribunals, where procedures have been introduced aimed at enabling victims to participate in the proceedings. The incorporation of a regime of victim redress within the framework of international criminal tribunals not only represents an extension of the mandate of international criminal justice but also confirms a shift in the way in which redress is conceptualised at the international level.

In international law victims' issues have gained more and more attention over the last decades. In particular in transitional justice processes the victim is being given high priority. It is to be seen in this context that the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court foresees a rather excessive victim participation concept in criminal prosecution. In this volume issue is taken at first with the definition of victims, and secondly with the role of the victim as a witness and as a participant. Several chapters address this matter with a view to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Trial against Demjanjuk in Germany. In a third part the interests of the victims outside the criminal trial are being discussed. In the final part the role of civil society actors are being tackled. This volume thus gives an overview of the role of victims in transitional justice processes from an interdisciplinary angle, combining academic research and practical experience.