An Introduction To The International Criminal Court - Institute for ...

punishment and the rights of victims 175
and other appropriate assistance for witnesses, victims who appear before
the Court and others who are at risk on account of testimony given by such
witnesses. The Unit is to include staff ‘with expertise in trauma, including
trauma related to crimes of sexual violence’. 72 The drafters did not, however,
specifically provide for the creation of other units, such as a unit responsible
for legal assistance to defendants.
The Rome Statute also provides for creation of a Trust Fund which will
hold fines and assets, and dispose of them. The Trust Fund is to be used ‘for
thebenefitofvictimsofcrimeswithinthejurisdictionoftheCourt,andofthe
families of such victims’. 73 The Trust Fund was established by decision of the
Assembly of States Parties at its first session in September 2002. The Trust
Fundismanagedbyafive-personBoardofDirectorswhoserveinavoluntary
capacity. 74 There were far more ambitious proposals for compensation of
victims, but these fell by the wayside during the negotiations. The concept of
international compensation is seductive, but it is not without many practical
obstacles. Experience of the ad hoc tribunals suggests that by and large most
defendants succeed in claiming indigence. For example, they are almost
invariably represented by tribunal-funded counsel after making perfunctory
demonstrations that they are without means to pay for their own defence.
The irony is that these are the very people who are widely believed to have
looted the countries where they once ruled. It may simply be unrealistic to
expect the new Court to be able to locate and seize substantial assets of its
prisoners.
72 Rome Statute, Art. 43(6). See also ibid., Art. 68(4). 73 Ibid., Art. 79.
74 ‘Establishment of a Fund for the Benefit of Victims of Crimes Within the Jurisdiction of the
Court, and of the Families of Such Victims’, ICC-ASP/1/Res.6; ‘Procedure for the Nomination
and Election of Members of the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for the Benefit of Victims’,
ICC-ASP/1/Res.7.