The Nuhanovic Foundation

Reparations Database

Menno T. Kamminga; Towards a Permanent International Claims Commission for Victims of Violations of International Humanitarian Law, Windsor Yearbook of Access to Justice, Vol. 25 (1)

YEAR

2023

Country Focus

DOCUMENTS

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 address only the content of the law rather than its implementation. In this article the author aims to take The Principles a step further by proposing the establishment of a new Permanent International Claims Commission (PICC). The PICC would be created by a multi-lateral treaty and would have the competence to award monetary compensation and restitution of property to victims of violations of international humanitarian law. Pointing to the weaknesses in all the existing mechanisms for implementation of these rights, the author argues that a PICC allied to a Permanent Court of International Arbitration could offer a flexible model that could be adapted to suit the circumstances of a particular armed conflict, and at the same time offer predictability to victims, since it would function in accordance with standards and procedures laid down beforehand.