Towards a Comprehensive Redress Regime for Victims of Crimes Under International Law

Abstract

Victims of the most heinous crimes typically face great difficulty in obtaining even the most basic forms of redress, as we have discussed in earlier chapters. The well-known Pinochet Case shows how thoroughly politicized the issue of redress can become and how frustrating it can be for victims and survivors to surmount basic preliminary legal hurdles to obtain justice. Even where a legal process culminates in a clear award in favour of the victims, and where funds held in foreign bank accounts are finally released and transferred to the victims’ country, as in the Marcos Case, access to funds for compensation can remain substantially blocked for years until obstacles at the domestic level are overcome.