INTRODUCTION

Responding to victims of massive human rights violations, violations of humanitarian law or international (criminal) law poses many challenges that require approaching the subject with a different perspective than the one used in dealing with individual or a limited number of crimes. Often the number of victims, the dimensions of the harm suff ered and the challenges that accompany a transition to democracy or the end of a conflict make it impractical for a society to take an individual approach to reparations. The overall challenges of a postconflict society in an impoverished country, such as Rwanda, require that most of the attention and efforts be focused on development and poverty alleviation. However, the needs and demands of victims must by necessity be addressed if a society is to successfully move forward. Responding to those demands are not necessarily opposed to improving the socioeconomic condition of the general population. Although no past effort can ever stand as a perfect measure for the future, especially given the diversity of contexts and conflicts, many useful lessons may nonetheless be drawn from the experiences of countries that have attempted to repair victims in contexts of transitional justice or post-conflict. This article provides some concrete examples on how to define and implement reparations for victims, not relying on judicial decisions or standards, but on policy and administrative mechanisms that work to address the most fundamental needs of victims. The examples also demonstrate the advantages of comprehensive transitional justice policies, which include establishing the crimes committed and what made them possible to happen; making a serious effort to investigate and try the most severe crimes; and reforming institutions in order to avoid repetition of such crimes. Such an approach can both provide coherence to the reparations effort, and also demonstrates the sincerity of the state to implement them.

Reparations usually come in the form of a judicial decision, where a court or other authority recognizes the claim of a victim to receive some form of compensation from the one who caused the injury or harm. Court-based reparations require formal proffers of evidence by a claimant, establishing the harm suff ered and the responsibility of the defendant.