Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court
Price:
$150.00 (06)Description
Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court is the first detailed analysis of the newly-recognized right of victims to participate in the trials of their accused abusers. Author T. Markus Funk draws on his extensive background in international criminal law and litigation to walk the reader through this unique - and, indeed, controversial - body of procedural and substantive rights for victims of atrocity crimes.To set the stage for his analysis, Mr. Funk provides a historical account of the ICC's creation and the origins of victims' rights. In addition, Mr. Funk gives the reader practical guidance on what it takes to litigate cases before the Court.
This background, in turn, allows the reader to work through a number of key questions: How does the ICC function and how is it structured? What are the legal, theoretical, and political pillars upon which the ICC is built? What is the proper role for victims in atrocity crimes litigation? How successfully has the ICC lived up to its promises to victims? How does one become an ICC victim representative, prosecutor, or judge, and what does it take to fulfill the mandate of these positions? What are the costs and benefits sovereign nations must weigh before joining the ICC? What institutional flaws have kept the ICC, as well as other predecessor ad hoc tribunals, from meeting the weighty expectations they have set for themselves and the world community?
In addition to addressing these key issues, Mr. Funk proposes concrete reforms to help the ICC fulfill its mission of effectively redressing past atrocities, while preserving the rights of both victims and the accused. The book also presents a detailed explanation of the ICC's rules of procedure and evidence and other practical issues impacting the Court's daily litigation practice.
Featuring a foreword by Paolina Massidda, Principal Counsel of the Office of Public Counsel for Victims at the International Criminal Court, Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court equips lawyers, victim advocates, academics, government officials, and other interested Court observers and decision-makers with a thorough understanding of the promises and potential pitfalls of victim advocacy, and, indeed, advocacy in general, at the ICC. The book, therefore, is an indispensable guide to anyone interested in this new, important and constantly-evolving juridical body.
Features
- Conducts the first in-depth analysis of the important, complex, and often misunderstood role of victims at the ICC.
- Includes a primer on why the ICC was established, as well as on how it is structured, financed, and operated.
- Combines international justice theory with a practical discussion of developing ICC practice, procedure, and evidentiary rules.
- Engages in a frank and earnest discussion of the disjunction between the Court's public proclamations of its intended mission and its actual results to date.
- Draws comparisons with the under-performance of other ad hoc criminal tribunals, pointing out reasons for these shortfalls, as well as proposals for reform.
- Uses extensive citation to authority to present proposals for reform.
Reviews
"Markus Funk has written the 'must-read' book for all lawyers and judges who practice in the International Criminal Court and for the entire academy of international criminal lawyers. The practice and jurisprudence of victims' rights have grown so rapidly that Mr. Funk's book is an essential tool in the courtroom. Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court meets the critical need for a detailed and comprehensive guidebook for the representation of victims. International justice is well-served by this path-breaking book."
- Ambassador David Scheffer, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues (1997-2001); Leader of the U.S. Negotiating Team in United Nations talks on the International Criminal Court; Director, Northwestern University's Center for International Human Rights.
"This intelligent book discusses a topical issue with vivacity. It puts forward a number of thoughtful and constructive proposals for ameliorating the victims' rights in the international criminal system."
- Judge Antonio Cassese, First President of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; Chairman of the UN International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur; Current President, UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon; Professor of International Law, University of Florence.
"Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court is the first in-depth treatment of the most contemporary topics in international criminal justice, namely, the International Criminal Court and victims' participation in international criminal proceedings. Mr. Funk's insightful and first-of-its-kind book is perfectly-timed to provide critical guidance to practitioners and academics alike. In so doing, the book effectively challenges some of the preconceptions observers have had about the roles played by victims and their representatives."
- Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, 1998 Chairperson of the Drafting Committee of the U.N.'s Diplomatic Conference on the Establishment of the ICC; President, DePaul University International Human Rights Law Institute.
"Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court combines a keen historical appreciation of the victims' rights movement with a detailed practical knowledge of how victims' representatives can most effectively serve their clients, the court, and the general cause of justice. This volume is indispensable for those wishing to understand how the court has integrated victims into their processes and the directions in which the role of victims in these processes is likely to develop."
- Judge Morris S. Arnold, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit; former university vice president and professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School; former Dean of the University of Indiana School of Law.
"Mr. Funk's book provides a perfectly candid, and at times quite disheartening, assessment of the ICC's shortcomings, while also acknowledging its strengths. Providing a roadmap to reform and the establishment of a more 'professionalized' Court, Mr. Funk's book succeeds entirely in its bold effort to marry the theory of victims' rights with the practice of victim representation."
- Justice Enver Hasani, President of the Kosovo Constitutional Court.
"[Mr. Funk's book] is a very meticulous, detailed, and methodical handbook for the victims' representatives. Mr. Funk establishes the basis for a thorough and meticulous vade-mecum that every victim representative at the ICC will want to have within easy reach."
- Prof. Pierre-Michel Fontaine, Former Chief of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' Promotion of Refugee Law Section.
"As T. Markus Funk in this groundbreaking book illustrates so compellingly, the broad crimes punishable by international criminal law generate a disturbing number of real flesh-and-blood victims. . . . This book in the end leads to a dramatically-improved comprehension of victims' rights by significantly advancing the debate on victims' participation within the framework of the Rome Statute, and by enhancing our shared understanding of how to most effectively and responsively address victims' needs, as well as their interest in participating in the proceedings."
- Paolina Massidda, Principal Counsel of the International Criminal Court's Office of Public Counsel for Victims
"[B]ecause of its clearness, pragmatism and facile structure, it is easy to imagine Funk's book becoming very soon a 'must-have' on the desks of practitioners working on victims' participation and victims' rights at the international level."
-Valentina Spiga, Book Review, Oxford Journal of International Criminal Justice
"Funk's primer on how best to represent victims is seasoned with ICC case law and meaningful insights that all ICC victim advocates need to know in order to be effective...T. Markus Funk's Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court is a valuable read and resource for those who care about international justice."
- Prof. Juliet Sorensen, Book Review, Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology (2010).
About the Author(s)
T. Markus Funk for the past decade has served as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, Illinois, where he currently is part of the Organized Crime and Public Corruption Section of the United States Attorney's Office. In 2008, Mr. Funk received the United States Department of Justice's Attorney General's Award (the "John Marshall Award"), the Department's highest trial performance distinction. Mr. Funk received the award for his role in the prosecution of the landmark mob-murder racketeering conspiracy known as "Operation Family Secrets."
From 2004 -2006, Mr. Funk served as the Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor for Kosovo. In that capacity, he provided among other things, training and advice to international war crimes judges, defense attorneys, victim advocates, investigators, and prosecutors throughout the Balkans. During this time, Mr. Funk published the Kosovo Trial Skills Handbook, which remains the most cited source in Kosovo's Compilation of Applicable Criminal Laws.
For his service abroad, the United States Department of State awarded Mr. Funk the Superior Honor Award. After returning to the United States, Mr. Funk was appointed Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Human Trafficking and Organized Crime Committee.
Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Funk spent two years as a Lecturer in Criminal Law at Oxford University (St. Catherine's College), and was a law clerk to the Honorable Morris S. Arnold, United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, and the Honorable Catherine D. Perry, United States District Court, St. Louis, Missouri.
In addition to teaching at Oxford University, Mr. Funk has taught at the University of Chicago School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, the University of Pristina (Kosovo), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law School, Loyola University of Chicago, and the United States Department of Justice's National Advocacy Center.
