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The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands, admitted Professor George Edwards to the roster of lawyers eligible to join counsel teams representing victims of ICC crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Professor Edwards received notification of this on April 11.

Professor Edwards, who is a professor of international law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, has been involved with the ICC for over two decades, including being a delegate to the June – July 1998 ICC Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rome, Italy, at which the ICC treaty (Rome Statute) was negotiated. In the second seat from the left of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is M. Cherif Bassiouni, '67, who was the Chair of the Rome Conference Treaty Drafting Committee. Professor Edwards is in the third row at this event, holding a video camera.

At IU McKinney; Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Law in Bangkok, Thailand; at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Florida; DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, and other law faculties with which Professor Edwards has had a relationship, he has incorporated law students into his work on a range of other international criminal law matters. This includes the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), criminal courts in Thailand, the Boer War, and the U.S. Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, among others.

Professor Edwards’ early ICC work

Before the Rome Conference, Professor Edwards was a delegate to the United Nations Preparatory Committee meetings at which the statute was drafted that became the Rome Statute. He represented the National Bar Association (NBA) there, as he did at post-Rome Conference Preparatory Commission meetings. The Commission was established by the Rome Conference, and was mandated to draft subsidiary documents, such as the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, the Elements of Crimes, a relationship agreement between the ICC and the United Nations, and the rules of procedure of the ICC Assembly of States Parties.

Professor Edward and his students work on international criminal law cases from The Hague, to Thailand, to the Boer War, to Guantanamo Bay

Professor Edwards founded IU McKinney's Program in International Human Rights Law, through which Indiana law students have become involved in international criminal law projects undertaken by Professor Edwards. His students also contributed to his 2003 work on behalf of hundreds of Guantanamo Bay detainees when the Guantanamo Chief Defense Counsel asked him to help advise on the range of rights to be afforded to Guantanamo detainees, who first began arriving at Guantanamo in January 2002, and who had no access to lawyers for the next full year.

In 2004, Professor Edwards and his students began work with the legal team representing Guantanamo detainee David Hicks. Hicks is a native of Australia, and in 2007 became the first person convicted by a U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War II. The students provided legal research for the Hicks’ team. Professor Edwards was tendered as an expert witness, and flew to Guantanamo with an Australian expert witness, the first two expert witnesses permitted to travel to Guantanamo for a proceeding. In 2007, Edwards and his students began work on the case of Omar Khadr who at age 15 was arrested and taken to Guantanamo.

Professor Edwards and his students worked on the case of Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of the former Yugoslavia, whose case was then pending before the United Nations ICTY.

Professor Edwards and his students worked on the case of Breaker Morant, who was convicted of war crimes by court martial following the Boer War in South Africa, and was executed in 1903. His descendants sought a posthumous pardon for him, and Professor Edwards examined the right to a fair trial under international criminal law as it existed in 1903.

Professor Edwards created the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Military Commission Observation Project, which has sent dozens of IU McKinney students, faculty, staff and graduates to Guantanamo Bay for live monitoring of criminal proceedings of detainees charged with war crimes, and to Ft. Meade, Maryland for monitoring the proceedings via closed-circuit television. Professor Edwards is the principal author of the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual and Know Before You Go to Guantanamo. His law students have worked on both projects.

Professor Edwards, in conjunction with Indiana students and students from Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Law, Bangkok, Thailand, worked on an extradition case pending in the courts of Thailand. The Thai Criminal Court granted a Russian request for a Russian citizen held in Thailand to be extradited to Russia. Months later, the same Thai court granted the U.S. request for the same prisoner to be extradited to the U.S. The court granted two extradition requests to two different countries for the same person, who, given the law of physics, could at most be extradited to one country.

Professor Edwards’ work with ICC victims will complement his other international criminal law work, and will offer his law students further opportunities for hands-on, experiential work in the field.

“ICC victims, and the ICC tribunal as a whole, can benefit from contributions that U.S. and Thai law students can make as they work on cases involving harms caused by crimes against humanity, war crimes, or genocide," Professor Edwards said. "Students from IU McKinney and Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Law can learn about international criminal law through hands-on work with real clients – victims of heinous crimes. Indiana and Chulalongkorn students will be challenged by their ICC experiences, and will find their work rewarding.”

ICC Victims

The ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence define “victims” as individuals and institutions that have suffered harm resulting from the commission of any crime within the court’s jurisdiction. The principal ICC crimes are war crimes, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The ICC reviews written applications of individuals and institutions seeking victim status, and the ICC determines which are deemed victims. Since the court began operating in 2002, classes of victims have been identified in several cases.

“Victims of ICC crimes have many rights guaranteed to them under the Rome Statute – the treaty that serves as the Constitution of the International Criminal Court," Professor Edwards said. "Victims’ counsel are responsible for helping to ensure that all victims are afforded all of their rights, at all stages of ICC proceedings.”

Victims have rights at all ICC stages, including during initial investigations, pre-trial hearings, trial, and sentencing upon conviction. Counsel advocate on behalf of victims, and help ensure that victims’ views and concerns are expressed, orally and in writing. Victims, who may engage with the ICC without counsel, participate and share separately and independently of the prosecution or defense. The ICC may financially assist victims who are unable to afford counsel.

The ICC is required to inform victims about cases in which victims alleged injury and to attend proceedings, and may question witnesses. Victims need not travel to The Hague, but may participate remotely or through their counsel. Victims are assigned pseudonyms, and their names do not appear in public court records. If there is a conviction, victims are entitled to reparations.

The ICC is obligated to protect the safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy of victims. These measures shall not be prejudicial to or inconsistent with the rights of the accused and a fair and impartial trial. To protect victims, the ICC may conduct parts of hearings in camera or allow evidence to be presented electronically or otherwise, as an exception to the requirement for public hearings. Such measures shall be implemented in the case of a victim of sexual violence or a child who is a victim, unless the ICC orders otherwise having regard to all the circumstances, particularly the views of the victim.

Reparations and Trust Fund for Victims

The ICC may award reparations on an individual and/or collective basis to victims after a defendant is convicted. The Trial Chamber may order a convicted person to pay reparations to victims, and may order such reparations be paid through the Trust Fund for Victims.

Reparations may include restitution, monetary compensation, return of property, rehabilitation, medical support, victims' services centers, or symbolic measures such as apologies or memorials. The Trust Fund for Victims is separate from the Court, and was created in 2004 by the Assembly of States Parties, to benefit ICC crime victims and their families. The Fund implements ICC-ordered reparations, provides physical, psychological, and material support to victims, and supports and implements other programs that address harms resulting from ICC crimes.

Victims and Witness Unit

The Victims and Witnesses Unit provides protective measures and security arrangements, counselling and other assistance for ICC victims. The Unit’s staff has expertise in trauma, including trauma related to crimes of sexual violence.”

The Unit helps victims obtain counsel, provides notice to victims and their counsel about proceedings and decisions that may impact victims’ interests, negotiates agreements on relocating victims and agreements of support for traumatized or threatened victims, provides short- and long-term protective and security measures, and assists victims in obtaining medical, psychological and other aid.

The Unit supports victims’ counsel and provides counsel facilities needed to work “for the purposes of protecting [victims’] rights during all stages of the proceedings in accordance with rules 89 to 91.” The Unit facilitates training the ICC and parties on trauma, sexual violence, security and confidentiality, and trains on victims’ integrity, dignity, genera, and cultural sensitivity.

The ICC Registry’s Victims Participation and Reparations Section (VPRS)

The ICC Registry’s Victims Participation and Reparations Section (VPRS) assists victims applying to participate in proceedings, and applying for reparations if a perpetrator is convicted.

Office of the Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV)

The ICC Office of Public Counsel for the Victims (OPCV) provides legal representation to victims throughout proceedings, and assistance and support to external lawyers appointed by victims. The OPCV is an independent office and falls within the Registry solely for administrative purposes. The Office advocates at different levels and participates in specialized meetings with NGOs and subsidiary bodies of the Assembly of States Parties.

Other points regarding ICC victims

The ICC Prosecutor is required to consider “the interests of victims” or “interests and personal circumstances of victims” when deciding whether a sufficient basis exists for a prosecution, and when investigating and prosecuting ICC crimes. Victims may submit observations to the ICC during proceedings regarding jurisdiction or admissibility, and during proceedings regarding jurisdiction or admissibility. Furthermore, the prosecutor may “[r]equest the presence of and question . . . victims”.

The ICC shall ensure that a trial is fair and expeditious and is conducted with full respect for the rights of the accused and due regard for the protection of victims. Enforcement of victims’ rights and interests shall not prejudice or be inconsistent with the rights of the accused and a fair and impartial trial.

If a defendant pleads guilty, the Trial Chamber may determine that “a more complete presentation of the facts of the case is required in the interests of justice, in particular the interests of the victims”, and request the prosecutor to present additional evidence, or order that the trial be continued under the ordinary trial procedures and “shall consider the admission of guilt as not having been made”. (Article 65)

Conclusion

Professor Edwards will not at this time relocate to The Hague, the seat of the ICC, but will continue his academic work, involving law students when a victims’ case arises.