Lawyers Barbara van Straaten and Brechtje Vossenberg wrote an article for the special issue of the Dutch Journal of Criminology (Tijdschrift voor Criminologie) on ‘Mass Victimization’. In their contribution, they describe how victims’ rights in cases involving international crimes takes place in practice; secondary international jurisdiction for core international crimes can be exercised in the Netherlands under the International Crimes Act (in Dutch: Wet Internationale Misdrijven, or ‘WIM’). They draw upon their own experience providing legal assistance as victims’ counsel in such cases.
The article outlines the challenges faced by victims (survivors) of international crimes in Dutch WIM-cases, but also the opportunities these cases offer for redress for individual victims as well as for the wider survivor communities to which they belong. The District Court and Court of Appeal in The Hague are internationally at the forefront in this regard, for instance by providing livestreams of court hearings and simultaneous interpretation, thereby enabling victims located abroad to follow the proceedings.
The full article is available --in Dutch-- via the website of the Tijdschrift voor Criminologie:
- B. van Straaten and A. Vossenberg, 'De uitoefening van slachtofferrechten in de vervolging en berechting van internationale misdrijven: een beschouwing van(uit) de praktijk', TVC 2026/1-2
- See also, the other contributions to the special issue on 'Mass Victimization', portal Tijdschrift voor Criminologie (Boom)