Collective Reparations: Tensions and Dilemmas Between Collective Reparations with the Individual Right to Receive Reparations

Abstract

Although international human rights law establishes the individual right to receive reparations, collective reparations have been considered a common response from judicial and non-judicial bodies to reparations for victims of gross violations of human rights. As such, collective reparations have been awarded within the field of international human rights law, international criminal law and transitional justice. Yet the concept, content and scope of collective reparations are rather unspecified. To date, neither the judicial nor the non-judicial bodies that have granted this kind of reparations have ever defined them. This thesis presents the first study on collective reparations. It aims to shed light on the legal framework, content and scope of collective reparations; and to the relationship between collective reparations and the individual right to reparations. In order to do so, the research analyses specific case law from the IACtHR, the ICC and the ECCC. Additionally, the practices of non-judicial mechanisms were examined, specifically those of the Peruvian and Moroccan Truth Commissions and of two mass claims compensation commissions (the UNCC and the EECC). Finally, it provides an overview of the challenges that collective reparations present to the fields of international human rights law and international criminal law, including in their implementation.