The Case for Collective Reparations before the ICC

Abstract

This paper was presented at a workshop on reparations before the ICC organized by the Université de Montréal. It discusses the challenge of awarding individual or collective reparations. It finds a certain bias so far in practices and commentary in favor of individual awards, which it argues reflects an individual bias in international criminal justice more generally. It makes the case that collective reparations will in many cases be superior not only on pragmatic grounds but also because they make most sense from the point of view of transitional justice. Most importantly, collective reparations are the most faithful to a construction of most international crimes as crimes that target groups (e.g.: the Genocide Convention groups) or categories (e.g.: civilians) rather than individuals as such.