Victims and Third Parties in International Criminal Justice

The role of victims in international criminal proceedings is a controversial issue from a procedural perspective especially in terms of their particular status. For the first time in international criminal justice victims participate in the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) proceedings and also have right to reparation. Although victims are not considered «parties» to the criminal proceedings, it is necessary to delimitate the scope of their interventions in the presentation of their views and concerns. This contribution first focusses of the notion of victims and then critically analyses three different aspects that need to be further studied in order to understand the impact of victim’s contribution to development of international recognition of its rights before the ICC. First, the protection of victims in the legal international framework. Second, modalities of participation of victims in the different stages of the proceedings (preliminary examination, investigation, pre-trial, trial and appeal). And third, issues related to reparations, in particular, principles and elements required for an order for reparations, types and modalities, and implementation of reparation. Lastly a special mention will be dedicated to the figure of Amicus Curie to identify the particularities of this figure in the proceedings. Challenges and practical difficulties that appear in the practice of the Court, are addressed in this chapter.