In international law victims' issues have gained more and more attention over the last decades. In particular in transitional justice processes the victim is being given high priority. It is to be seen in this context that the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court foresees a rather excessive victim participation concept in criminal prosecution. In this volume issue is taken at first with the definition of victims, and secondly with the role of the victim as a witness and as a participant. Several articles address this matter with a view to the International Criminal Court, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia and the trial against Demjanjuk in Germany. In a third part the interests of the victims outside the criminal trial are being discussed. In the final part the role of civil society actors are being tackled.

This volume for the first time brings together international scholars from international criminal law, political science, peace and conflict studies, anthropology and sociology as well as practitioners to contribute to the understanding of the role victims play in processes dealing with serious human rights violations. It is of special interest to academics and practitioners in the aforementioned fields and to anyone taking the victim's rights to heart.

Thorsten Bonacker is Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Center for Conflict Studies at the University of Marburg. Christoph Safferling is Professor for Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, International Criminal Law, and Public International Law at the University of Marburg, as well as Director of the International Research and Documentation Center for War Crimes Trials.

Inhalt
Victims of International Crimes: An Interdisciplinary Discourse.- Victim-Oriented Perspectives; Rights and Realities.- On Victims and Non-Victims: Observations From Rwanda. - The Status of Victims Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.- The Individualising and Universalising Discourse of Law: Victims in Truth Commissions and Trials.- Redressing Sexual Violence in Transitional Justice and the Labelling of Women as "Victims".- Everyone Wanted to be Victim How Victims of Persecution Disappear Within a Victimised Nation.- Transcending Victimhood: Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice.- The Protection of Victims in War Crimes Trials.- Victims as Witnesses Views from the Defence.- Participation Rights of Victims as Civil Parties and the Challenges o Their Implementation Before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.- The ICC's Practice on Victim Participation.- Victims' Rights and Peace.- Victims, Excombatants, and the Communities: Irreconcilable Demands or a Dangerous Convergence? Victims of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.- Victims of Civil War.- Valorising Victims Ambivalences in Contemporary Trends in Transnational Justice.- A Reflection on Transnational Justice in Guatemala 15 Years After the Peace Agreements.- The Role and Mandates of the ICC Trust Fund for Victims.- From Victimhood to Political Protagonism: Victim Groups and Associations in the Process of Dealing with a Violent Past.- The Role of Cambodian Civil Society in the Victim Participation Scheme of the Extraordinary Chambers in the courts of Cambodia.- Critical Memory Studies and the Politics of Victimhood: Reassessing the Role of Victimhood Nationalism in Northern Ireland and South Africa.