Addressing Colonial Crimes through Reparations?

Author: van den Herik, Larissa

Source: Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 10, Number 3, 28 July 2012 , pp. 693-705(13)

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Abstract:

In 2011, Dutch history came to the courtroom. In the so-called Rawagede case, reparations were asked of the Dutch state for mass executions committed on 9 December 1947 in Indonesia under Dutch colonial rule. In an unanticipated judgment delivered on 14 September 2011, The Hague Court of First Instance declared the Dutch massacre in Rawagede wrongful, set aside existing statutory limitations, and held that reparations should be awarded to victims. This judgment is taken as an opportunity to discuss some more general questions concerning retroactivity, statutory limitations in civil versus criminal cases, and the question whether articulations of regret and the donation of development aid can be considered as specific expressions of an effective remedy. This article argues that the judgment does not directly contribute to state practice in the formation of a concrete rule of customary international law on statutory limitations in reparation cases concerning international crimes. The importance of this case can rather be found at the meta-level in that it functions as leverage for the Dutch state and society to revisit its colonial past.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqs033

Publication date: 2012-07-28

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JICJ aims to promote a profound collective reflection on the new problems facing international law. Established by a group of distinguished criminal lawyers and international lawyers, JICJ addresses the major problems of justice from the angle of law, jurisprudence, criminology, penal philosophy, and the history of international judicial institutions. It is intended for graduate and post-graduate students, practitioners, academics, government officials, as well as the hundreds of people working for international criminal courts.