The Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice hosted two panel discussions on victim and witness issues during the 26 July-13 August 1999 Preparatory Commission meeting on the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The panels were intended to provide a forum for those with direct experience in issues of victim participation and protection at the ad hoc tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to share their insights with those negotiating related issues in the ICC. Persons from different levels at both tribunals participated in these panels, including a former judge at the ICTY, the registrar of the ICTR, as well as those in a support role to victims and witnesses at the tribunals and on the ground. Importantly, two women from Rwanda, both victims of the violence and upheaval that devastated that country and led to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, participated on the first panel. This was the first time direct accounts from victims have been offered directly to those involved in the negotiation process of the ICC. What follows is a background of the ICC process, the treatment of victim and witness issues in that process, and summaries of the discussions that took place at both panels. We offer this report in the hope that the victims’ own accounts can be a source of guidance during the remaining ICC negotiations and that any failings of the tribunal processes as well as the achievements there will inform the debates on these issues.
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