New measures in favor of victims in Mali These measures should respond to the prejudices of victims in the center and north of the country.

Following a mission to Bamako, the Fund for the benefit of victims to the International Criminal Court (ICC) (https://www.TrustFundforVictims.org/) announced new rehabilitation actions for victims in Mali. 

These measures will have to respond to the prejudices of the victims in the center and the north of the country, in addition to those already initiated in Timbuktu and the process deployed by the Malian state. “Crimes under international law have increased in Mali in recent years, particularly in the center and north-east of the country. While waiting for justice to be done, we have decided to put in place measures to rehabilitate victims in these regions. 

Many of them are now in an extremely precarious situation and some have lost all their belongings. With this decision, we want to allow survivors to move forward and thus contribute to the process of transitional justice, ”said Ms. Mama Koité Doumbia, President of the Trust Fund for Victims. The Trust Fund for Victims will implement this new program in partnership with organizations based in Mali. Victims eligible for these new measures will thus be able to benefit, among other things, from medical treatment, psychological rehabilitation, including in the context of consultations in the event of trauma, and material support, in particular to develop means of subsistence. These measures, which should be implemented from 2021, will complement the legal reparations decided by the International Criminal Court following the conviction of Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi for the destruction of the mausoleums and the door of the Sidi Yahia mosque. 

The decision of the ICC judges provides for individual, collective and symbolic judicial reparations, for the community of Timbuktu but also for the Malian community and the international community, to compensate for the damage suffered by the destruction of a world heritage of humanity. . The first measures are about to be carried out.

These measures must also complement the national transitional justice and reconciliation system. During a mission to Bamako which enabled them to meet with government authorities, the Trust Fund for Victims was able to measure the efforts made by the Malian state to enable victims to obtain reparations. The draft National Reparation Policy, currently under consideration, thus provides for the establishment of a Victims Reparations Administration Commission. This commission could take over from the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, whose mandate will end in 2021, and which has already heard from nearly 18,000 victims across the country. 

It could then offer compensation and complement the transitional justice initiatives adopted in the Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation resulting from the Algiers process of 2015, which also provides for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes. The action of the Fund for the benefit of victims will be complementary to this initiative and will aim to support the action of the State in matters of reparation.

“Although they do not replace the legal proceedings to which they are entitled, these new measures are very good news for the victims of Mali, beyond the victims of Timbuktu. As the victims of Al Mahdi are preparing to receive their first reparations, this decision is a signal of hope for those who have been affected by the most serious crimes committed throughout Malian territory ” said Maître Mayombo Kassongo, lawyer for victims in the Al Mahdi case at the International Criminal Court. The Fund will continue its efforts to mobilize resources and partners in favor of the Malian victims.

As an explanation about the Fund for Victims, it should be noted that although separate from the ICC, the Trust Fund for Victims (https://www.TrustFundforVictims.org/) was established in 2004 by the ICC Assembly of States Parties, pursuant to article 79 of the Statute of Rome. The Fund responds to the harm resulting from crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC: it ensures respect for the rights of victims and their families by providing them with assistance and reparations. The Fund thus has a dual mandate: i) to implement reparation orders issued by the ICC and ii) to provide victims and their families with physical, psychological and material support. 

By funding the program and thereby helping victims regain a life of dignity and participate in the life of their communities, the Trust Fund for Victims contributes to the establishment of long-term lasting peace by promoting restorative justice and reconciliation.

About the ICC in Mali, it has to be noted that Mali ratified the Rome Statute on August 16, 2000 and referred to the ICC (https://www.ICC-CPI.int/) the situation that has prevailed on its territory since January 2012. After carrying out a preliminary examination Of the situation, on January 16, 2013, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC opened an investigation into the alleged crimes committed on the territory of Mali since January 2012. 

Two cases have been opened to date: The Al Mahdi Case: Following his trial on September 27, 2016, Trial Chamber VIII found Ahmad Al Mahdi guilty of the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against religious and historic buildings in Timbuktu, Mali, in June and July 2012. She sentenced Ahmad Al Mahdi to nine years' imprisonment. 

On August 17, 2017, Trial Chamber VIII issued a reparation order fixing Mr. Al Mahdi's liability at 2.7 million euros for individual and collective reparations to be paid to the community of Timbuktu. 

On March 8, 2018, the Appeals Chamber upheld, for the most part, the reparation order. Mr. Ahmad Al Mahdi being indigent, the Trust Fund for Victims is responsible for completing the reparations ordered. 

The Trust Fund for Victims will launch reparations activities in December 2020 with its implementing partners. The Al Hassan case: an arrest warrant for Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was issued on March 27, 2018. He was handed over to the ICC on March 31, 2018 and he is currently in detention by the Court. His trial began on July 14, 2020 before Trial Chamber X for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Timbuktu and is continuing.

Cassien Tribunal Aungane, Editor