From Prosecutorial to Reparatory: A Valuable Post-Conflict Change of Focus

The ICC is well known in international legal circles. Indeed, everyone who knows anything about international law knows that the ICC is the acronym for the International Criminal Court, the body charged with prosecuting international crimes around the globe. Created in 2002, the ICC was intended to “put an end to impunity” for the perpetrators of international crimes” and to affirm “that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished.”1 Imagine, however, a world where the “ICC” instead was an acronym for the International Compensation Court. That is, what if the ICC were a body charged with providing financial reparations to victims of mass violence? What if, instead of devoting millions upon millions of dollars to prosecuting those who commit international crimes, the international community used those resources to compensate victims of international crimes?