19 September 2016
Impunity Watch is pleased to announce the publication of a new research report In the shadow of politics: Victim participation in the Kenya ICC cases. The study critically examines victim participation in the Kenyan International Criminal Court (ICC) cases, exploring the assumed benefits and impact of participation, the challenges faced by victims seeking to participate, as well as the broader institutional challenges facing judges and lawyers as they attempted to operationalise a victim participation regime within international criminal proceedings.
A common thread running through the analysis demonstrates that the benefits and challenges of victim participation cannot be understood in isolation from the political and social context in which it takes place. The report shows how challenges relating to taking the cases forward and the hostile attitude of the authorities in Kenya towards the ICC have significantly undermined the goals of victim participation.
This research report is part of a broader Impunity Watch comparative research project on victim participation in mechanisms for transitional justice. Case studies include Burundi, Cambodia, Kenya, Tunisia, Guatemala, and Honduras.