Admin I Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2024
THE HAGUE, Netherlands- The Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court composed by Judge Bertram Schmitt, Judge Peter Kovács, and Judge Chang-ho Chung has ordered payment of reparations to the tune of € 52,429,000 EUR as reparation for victims of Dominic Ongwen.
The court also ordered collective community-based reparations focused on rehabilitation and symbolic/satisfaction measures, consisting of collective rehabilitation programmes, as well as a symbolic award of €750 EUR for all eligible victims, and other community symbolic measures.
Judge Bertram Schmitt, Presiding Judge, read a summary of the Order for reparations against Mr Ongwen. He explained that the Chamber estimated the number of potentially eligible direct and indirect victims to be approximately 49,772 victims.
The Chamber concluded that the direct victims of the attacks, direct victims of sexual and gender-based crimes, and children born of those crimes, and former child soldiers suffered serious and long-lasting physical, moral and material harm.
The indirect victims of all of these crimes suffered moral and material harm. In addition, the entire community of victims suffered community harm, and children of direct victims and children born out of sexual and gender based crimes suffered transgenerational harm.
The Chamber found Mr Ongwen indigent for the purposes of reparations and encouraged the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) to complement the reparation awards, to the extent possible, and engage in additional fundraising efforts to the extent necessary to complement the totality of the award.
Noting Mr Ongwen’s indigence, the Chamber also acknowledges that it would be for the TFV’s Board of Directors to determine whether and when to use its ‘other resources’ to complement the reparations awarded in the present case.
The Chamber instructed the TFV to submit for the Chamber’s approval by 3 September 2024, at the latest, a draft plan for the implementation of the rehabilitation and symbolic measures to be included within the collective community-based reparations awarded.
The Chamber also requested the TFV to prioritize the payment of the symbolic monetary awards over the rehabilitation and other symbolic measures. The Chamber acknowledged it will take time before any payments are actually distributed to the victims and that not all victims would receive the symbolic amount at the same time, noting that payments would be issued depending on the victims’ urgent needs and vulnerability and the capacity of the TFV to complement the award.
The Chamber encourages States, organisations, corporations, and private individuals to support the TFV’s mission and efforts and contribute to its fundraising activities.
