Communiqué from the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court

ICC-CPI-TFV-20061109-181

The Board of Directors held its third annual meeting on 6 and 7 November 2006 at The Hague in the presence of all its members elected to date: Madame Simone Veil, Chair, His Grace Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Excellency Mr Tadeusz Mazowiescki and His Excellency Mr Arthur Robinson.

The Board is deeply concerned by the suffering endured by the victims, especially in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic and Darfur.

Accordingly, the members of the Board have endeavoured mainly to determine the policies to be adopted in response to the legitimate expectations of victims’ communities in the situations which have been referred to the Court. In 2007, the Board would like to implement an active policy of assistance for specific groups of victims in the countries in which the Court is active.

In this regard, the Board has decided to assess, as soon as possible, the first requests for assistance which it received in October 2006. The assessment will be based on the following criteria: credibility, necessity and effectiveness of the proposals.

The Board also welcomed the recruitment of the Executive Director of the Secretariat which marks the beginning of the operational phase of its work. The Board has already instructed the Secretariat to finalise the criteria for accepting or rejecting voluntary contributions in order to ensure that such contributions are always consistent with the objectives and work of the Fund.

The Board reiterates its commitment to the representation of all continents and therefore all cultures on the Board. The Board therefore calls on States Parties of the Asian region to appoint their representative at the next Assembly of States Parties.

Finally, the Board would like to thank all States Parties and donors and particularly the staff of the Court, who have demonstrated their support for the victims of crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court and urge them to make their contributions on a regular basis.

Simone Veil
Chair of the Board of Directors
The Hague, 7 November 2006

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