This book brings together a remarkable selection of Marc Bossuyt's opinions and insights on specific areas of his interest and expertise. Marc's writings carry the imprint and consistency of legal precision. As also transpires from the farewell lecture delivered at the University of Antwerp under the telling title At the Crossroads of Law and Politics, other qualities and dimensions also come to the fore. A comprehensive and effective human rights policy requires, in addition to international and domestic judicial control, a variety of extra-judicial means of prevention, promotion and protection, particularly in situations where gross violations are imminent or rampant.

Some forty years cover Marc Bossuyt's intricate professional involvement in support of the cause of human rights and fundamental freedoms. As it happened, being myself Marc's country neighbour from the North and brought up in the same mother tongue, I shared with him, albeit not precisely concurrently, similar experiences in a series of United Nations human rights mechanisms in Geneva. Many of our footsteps were set around the Lac Léman, not physically walking together but in a common spirit of having the same objective in mind: helping to make the global human rights agenda more effective and credible.

Against this background I wish to single out two areas of an institutional and thematic nature which may serve as illustrations of contributions made by Marc Bossuyt to the United Nations human rights legacy. First, his membership and leadership as an independent expert of the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and the Protection of Minorities (in later years re-named Sub-Commission on the Promotion and the Protection of Human Rights). It was with the active input of Marc Bossuyt that the Sub- Commission, oft en withstanding the odds of political tensions, initiated major developments in the UN human rights arena, frequently in close concert with civil society organisations and academia. A thorough examination of the various components of the UN human rights agenda is bound to reveal the pioneering role the Sub-Commission has played in the framing of normative standards, in giving new impetus to thematic issues of wide public concern and in taking on gross and consistent patterns of human rights violations.

SETTING A TREND TOWARDS REPARATIVE JUSTICE

Over the past century, millions of civilians have fallen victim to acts of violence during conflict. The scale of violence against civilians has been far greater in the previous century than ever before. This has not only led to a dramatic increase in the numbers of civilian casualties of war during the 20th century, but also to a likewise dramatic increase in the proportion of civilian casualties as opposed to military casualties: From about 14% in World War I over 67% in World War II, to 90% by the end of the last century (Levi & Sider 1997). Civilians, notably women and children, are increasingly targeted. conflicts involving child soldiers, widespread attacks on civilian populations, destruction and looting of civilian residences and institutions, abductions, the use of rape as an instrument of warfare, and massive deportations and ethnic cleansing have become common practices.

According to the UNHCR's annual ‘Global Trends’ report of June 2010, at the end of 2009, the number of people forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution worldwide stood at 43.3 million, the highest number since the mid-nineties. The total includes 15.2 million refugees and asylum seekers and 27.1 million internally displaced people uprooted within their own countries.

One particular aspect of addressing the terrible consequences of mass victimization is found in providing reparation to victims. Mass atrocities cause large scale sufferings inflicted on individual human persons, collectivities and entire populations. More oft en than not victims of mass atrocities are ignored.

Many societies do not have a genuine interest in the fate of victims; there is great reluctance to face and acknowledge cruelties that occurred and a sense prevails of irreparable harm anyway. In addition, societies trying to overcome a period of conflict show several profound shortcomings, both in the legal and social order that also affect proper reparation Afterwards. Tomuschat singles out four main general areas (Tomuschat 2008, 54). First, inadequate laws, restrictions in legal scope and content relating to the committed crimes, impediments in getting access to justice and restrictive attitudes of courts are some of the legal obstacles. Second, oft en societies face political obstacles mainly from authorities and certain groups in society unwilling to recognise that wrongs were committed.