Realising the Right to Health for Victims of International Crimes. The Case of Medical Rehabilitation Reparations Ordered by International Courts: Challenges, Possibilities and Ways of Improvement

Abstract

In the last few decades, international crimes, ie, serious human rights violations, have inflicted severe harm on both the physical and mental health of large numbers of victims around the world. In attempting to redress these damages, international courts, within their respective mandates, have issued reparations orders in favour of victims and their communities. Precisely, an important modality of reparations has consisted of rehabilitation which includes measures of a medical nature for victims. This means physical and psychological rehabilitation including treatment, care and support. At three international level courts, namely, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), International Criminal Court (ICC), and Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), important developments in the field of medical rehabilitative reparations have taken place. This article critically analyses the practices on medical rehabilitation reparations at those courts, suggests which steps should be taken to improve those practices and proposes which actions States and other international community actors should adopt to better implement and/or contribute towards the implementation of orders on medical rehabilitation reparations. Attention is also given to international human rights law, particularly the obligation to cooperate and the right to health standards and principles.