Press Release: 6 February 2023

Colombia makes voluntary contribution to the Trust Fund for Victims

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Photo: Minou Tavárez Mirabal, Chair, Board of Directors for the Trust Fund for Victims at the ICC (left), H.E. Carolina Olarte-Bácares Ambassador of Colombia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands (centre) and Franziska Eckelmans, Acting Executive Director (right).
Photo: Minou Tavárez Mirabal, Chair, Board of Directors for the Trust Fund for Victims at the ICC (left), H.E. Carolina Olarte-Bácares Ambassador of Colombia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands (centre) and Franziska Eckelmans, Acting Executive Director (right).

The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) takes great pleasure in announcing the generous voluntary contribution of US $50,000 made by the Colombian Government to the Trust Fund for Victims.

The support of States Parties such as Colombia to the TFV helps survivors of the gravest human rights violations to live with dignity, hope and choice.

Welcoming this donation, Minou Tavárez Mirabal, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Trust Fund for Victims at the ICC thanked the Ambassador and the Government of Colombia by saying “The TFV expresses its sincere appreciation to Colombia for this significant voluntary contribution and for Colombia’s trust in the force of reparations for the victims of Rome Statute crimes.

H.E. Ambassador Olarte-Bácares of Colombia to the Netherlands said: “This donation, which is in line with Colombia’s pledge to work towards total peace within and beyond its borders, is a token of our commitment with the victims of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. The work of the Trust Fund for Victims in favour of peace and reparations, with an emphasis on gender-based crimes victims, completely aligns with the priorities set by the Colombian Government for the years to come.

TFV and ICC form together the pillar of the Rome Statute’s reparative justice system. Transformative reparations are at the core of the TFV’s work. Many of its programmes focus on survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Through its partners, the TFV aims at empowering victims to overcome their harm and at mitigating the negative transgenerational effects of the most serious crimes of concern to humanity. Voluntary contributions enable TFV programmes and visibly support its role in attaining justice, sustainable development, peace and stability.

To date, the TFV is implementing programmes in four reparation cases ordered by the ICC, the LubangaKatanga, Al Mahdiand Ntaganda cases. The convicted persons in these cases were all found to be indigent and the TFV has responded to the ICC's requests to consider complementing the payment of the reparations awards. Using the available voluntary contributions, the TFV is paying for the implementation of reparations awards in these four cases. Additional funds are urgently required to continue the reparation programme for the victims of the case Lubanga. The TFV has also engaged in the fifth reparations proceeding in Ongwen since the beginning of 2021.

The TFV conducts country programmes for the benefit of victims of Rome Statute crimes in the following ICC situation countries: Central African Republic, Côte d'Ivoire,  Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali and Uganda. The TFV will soon launch new programmes in Georgia and Kenya.

For more information about the Trust Fund for Victims, please contact: [email protected] or visit: www.trustfundforvictims.org

Source: Trust Fund for Victims