International criminal justice is breaking its own backbone, by sacrificing the interests of the victims

Koffi Afande was a judge for, amongst others, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. According to him, the apparent improvement of the status of victims in international criminal justice is deceiving. Therefore, a paradigmatic shift is necessary.

Judge Koffi Kumelio A. Afande was a judge for the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY / ICTR (former). Senior legal advisor of Togo in the United Nations Security Council, and the sixth Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (former). Commissioner for Political, Constitutional and Institutional Reforms of Togo.

He talks about the apparent improvement of the status of victims from the Nuremburg and Tokyo Tribunals through to the ICC in The Hague via the ad hoc and hybrid tribunals (ICTR, ICTY, SCSL, ECCC, STL, etc.) is deceiving. The situation of victims in International Criminal Justice requires a paradigmatic shift, taking into account the diverse and cultural decisive attributes of victims in conflict settlement and resolution.