III. ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE RIGHTS OF VICTIMS
As mentioned in section B above, a number of international human rights
treaties and provisions also provide a right to a remedy for victims of
violations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (art. 2), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination (art. 6), the Convention against Torture (art. 14),
and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 39).
The Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and
Abuse of Power,129 focusing on crimes under domestic law, but also on
abuses of power, which include violations of international human rights
and humanitarian law, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
(art. 7), the American Convention on Human Rights (art. 25), as well as
decisions by the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American
Court of Human Rights, also recognize the rights of victims. Finally, the
Rome Statute establishes the power of the International Criminal Court to
“determine the scope and extent of any damage, loss and injury to, or
in respect of, victims” and to “make an order directly against a convicted
person specifying appropriate reparations to, or in respect of, victims,
including restitution, compensation and rehabilitation” (art. 75).
The International Court of Justice has also determined that certain
violations committed in the context of armed conflict give rise to the rights
of victims to reparation. For example, the Court indicated that “given that
the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has, inter
alia, entailed the requisition and destruction of homes, businesses and
agricultural holdings, the Court finds further that Israel has the obligation
to make reparation for the damage caused to all the natural or legal
persons concerned.” The Court concluded that “Israel is accordingly
under an obligation to return the land, orchards, olive groves and other
immovable property seized from any natural or legal person for purposes
of construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. In the event
that such restitution should prove to be materially impossible, Israel has an
obligation to compensate the persons in question for the damage suffered.
General Assembly resolution 40/34.
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