The Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) concludes its mandate of the term 2018 – 2021 on 6 December 2021 which coincides with the opening plenary of the 20th session of the ICC Assembly of States Parties (ASP).
Photo: Picture of the outgoing Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims from its last meeting on 2-3 December 2021, from left to right: Andres Parmas (Estonia), representing of Eastern European States; Minou Josefina Tavárez Mirabal (Dominican Republic), representing Latin American and Caribbean States; Mama Koité Doumbia (Mali), Chair and representative of African States; Sheikh Mohammed Belal (Bangladesh), representing Asian States; and not pictured Baroness Arminka Helić (United Kingdom), representing Western European and Other States, who could not be present in The Hague, and attended the meeting virtually.
Addressing the ASP, the outgoing Board Chair, Mama Koité Doumbia, said: “I would like to express once more my appreciation of my fellow Board members who elected me to this position, and who have not stopped actively contributing to our work with perseverance to achieve our shared mission for the Trust Fund for Victims”. The TFV has multiplied its efforts to continue its work in the best possible conditions to ensure timely reparations measures and also continued its efforts in its numerous victim assistance programmes despite the COVID-19 pandemic that still affects the whole world”.
Ms Koité Doumbia added, “We cannot forget the harm that victims of these immeasurable crimes have suffered and they should receive redress in a lasting and profound way, both at the individual and community level. This Board of Directors, passing on its mandate to the next Board, is convinced that the Trust Fund for Victims, will be able to fulfil its reparative justice mandate, as envisaged in the Rome Statute and in our Regulations, for the benefit and in the interest of those who, far from The Hague, suffer unremedied harm and are marginalised by unimaginable crimes, even if they were committed long ago”.
The TFV Secretariat expresses its heartfelt gratitude for the Board’s dedication, commitment, and guidance through decision-making and advice in regard to developments in the TFV’s mandates as well as its institutional and resource development during its mandate. “On behalf of the TFV Secretariat, I wish to thank the outgoing Board of Directors for their unstinting service over their three-year mandate. The Board has made a lasting contribution to the TFV and we are definitely who we are, and where we are, thanks to their dedication,” said Pieter de Baan, TFV Executive Director.
In these times of COVID-19 and conflict, the TFV has managed, over the course of the past year, to significantly expand its presence and scale up its progammes. The TFV continued its implementation in four reparations orders in the cases of Lubanga, Katanga, Al Mahdi, and Ntaganda. This year the TFV also engaged in the fifth reparations proceeding, in Ongwen. Under its assistance mandate, the TFV is continuing with its programme in Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda. The TFV will soon launch new assistance programmes in Georgia, Kenya and Mali at the beginning of 2022.
Outgoing Board members: Mama Koité Doumbia (Mali), Chair and representative of African States; Sheikh Mohammed Belal (Bangladesh), representing Asian States; Andres Parmas (Estonia), representing of Eastern European States; Minou Josefina Tavárez Mirabal (Dominican Republic), representing Latin American and Caribbean States; and Baroness Arminka Helić (United Kingdom), representing Western European and Other States.
For more information about the Trust Fund for Victims, please contact: trustfundforvictims@icc-cpi.int or visit: www.trustfundforvictims.org