The Ljubljana-Hague Convention: new opportunities for compensation for victims of war crimes and violations

Translated by Angela Tagliafierro

In the 'Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law', the UN General Assembly states that by honouring the right of victims to benefit from remedies and reparations, the international community upholds the plight of victims, survivors, and future human generations and reaffirms international law in this regard.

Although this was emphasised in 2005, in 2024, many victims of the most serious violations of humanitarian law and human rights have not received the compensation they need to rebuild their lives. Indeed, 'reparations' can give victims access to medical treatment and rebuild their property, but they can also take symbolic forms such as public apologies, social rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to the NGO Trial International, more than 20,000 women and men were raped or abused during the 1992-95 war. Only 1,000 victims have obtained or are in the process of obtaining some form of compensation. Some survivors take individual legal action in criminal and civil courts to obtain reparations, but many lack confidence in their country's judicial institutions: not only do they feel that prosecution of war crimes is slow and ineffective, but they also fear that they will not be able to obtain compensation from perpetrators. Indeed, some prosecutors neglect their duties, while court orders requiring perpetrators to pay compensation to victims are not always enforced due to insolvency or concealment of assets.

A novelty in the landscape of international justice is the 'Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and Other International Crimes', commonly known as the Ljubljana-Hague Convention, signed by more than thirty states in February 2024. It emphasises mutual cooperation between states not only in the investigation and prosecution of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes — with the aim of significantly reducing the impunity of perpetrators — but also in providing speedy remedies to the victims of the most serious crimes.

The perpetrators of the most serious international crimes often profit from war and accumulate vast wealth that they exploit in 'safe heavens' around the world. A criminal prosecution of a perpetrator could involve many countries: it is very plausible that crimes are committed in one country, the perpetrator flees to another, is arrested in yet another, and his assets and victims are scattered all over the world. With Article 45, the Convention encourages states to work together to recover assets, no longer considering the complexity of an offender's international network of wealth as an obstacle to bringing him or her to justice. If assets are legally secured, a state only has to comply with a request for confiscation of assets held within its territory to execute a restorative sentence.

If no mechanism is available to compel perpetrators to pay for their crimes, the burden of financing reparations often falls on the state of which the perpetrator is a citizen (which is most likely already in a costly period of transitional justice) and on other states that offer to contribute to compensation. A virtuous example of this is the International Criminal Court's Trust Fund for Victims, which supports and implements programmes to address the harm resulting from international crimes by providing court-ordered reparations. It also provides physical, psychological, and material support to victims and their families through voluntary donor contributions. To date, the Trust Fund has provided assistance to over 120,000 victims in countries where the Court has initiated investigations, such as Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. While court-ordered reparations may come from the assets of the convicted person, the Trust Fund's ability to provide general assistance depends on voluntary contributions from states and non-state entities.

In conclusion, to abolish safe havens for war criminals and other violators of international law, it is essential to promote the universal ratification of the Convention. This would ensure that states are legally bound to cooperate in the identification, arrest, and extradition of international criminals, creating an environment where there is no safe haven for perpetrators of serious violations of international law. This will go a long way towards ensuring that victims have access to justice and redress, thus helping to promote human rights and prevent future abuses.

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