Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court

Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court is the first detailed analysis of the newly-recognized right of victims to participate in the trials of their accused abusers. Author T. Markus Funk draws on his extensive background in international criminal law and litigation to walk the reader through this unique - and, indeed, controversial - body of procedural and substantive rights for victims of atrocity crimes.

To set the stage for his analysis, Mr. Funk provides a historical account of the ICC's creation and the origins of victims' rights. In addition, Mr. Funk gives the reader practical guidance on what it takes to litigate cases before the Court.

This background, in turn, allows the reader to work through a number of key questions: How does the ICC function and how is it structured? What are the legal, theoretical, and political pillars upon which the ICC is built? What is the proper role for victims in atrocity crimes litigation? How successfully has the ICC lived up to its promises to victims? How does one become an ICC victim representative, prosecutor, or judge, and what does it take to fulfill the mandate of these positions? What are the costs and benefits sovereign nations must weigh before joining the ICC? What institutional flaws have kept the ICC, as well as other predecessor ad hoc tribunals, from meeting the weighty expectations they have set for themselves and the world community?

In addition to addressing these key issues, Mr. Funk proposes concrete reforms to help the ICC fulfill its mission of effectively redressing past atrocities, while preserving the rights of both victims and the accused. The book also presents a detailed explanation of the ICC's rules of procedure and evidence and other practical issues impacting the Court's daily litigation practice.

Featuring a foreword by Paolina Massidda, Principal Counsel of the Office of Public Counsel for Victims at the International Criminal Court, Victims' Rights and Advocacy at the International Criminal Court equips lawyers, victim advocates, academics, government officials, and other interested Court observers and decision-makers with a thorough understanding of the promises and potential pitfalls of victim advocacy, and, indeed, advocacy in general, at the ICC. The book, therefore, is an indispensable guide to anyone interested in this new, important and constantly-evolving juridical body.

T. Markus Funk for the past decade has served as a federal prosecutor in Chicago, Illinois, where he currently is part of the Organized Crime and Public Corruption Section of the United States Attorney's Office. In 2008, Mr. Funk received the United States Department of Justice's Attorney General's Award (the "John Marshall Award"), the Department's highest trial performance distinction. Mr. Funk received the award for his role in the prosecution of the landmark mob-murder racketeering conspiracy known as "Operation Family Secrets."

From 2004 -2006, Mr. Funk served as the Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor for Kosovo. In that capacity, he provided among other things, training and advice to international war crimes judges, defense attorneys, victim advocates, investigators, and prosecutors throughout the Balkans. During this time, Mr. Funk published the Kosovo Trial Skills Handbook, which remains the most cited source in Kosovo's Compilation of Applicable Criminal Laws.

For his service abroad, the United States Department of State awarded Mr. Funk the Superior Honor Award. After returning to the United States, Mr. Funk was appointed Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Human Trafficking and Organized Crime Committee.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice, Mr. Funk spent two years as a Lecturer in Criminal Law at Oxford University (St. Catherine's College), and was a law clerk to the Honorable Morris S. Arnold, United States Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, and the Honorable Catherine D. Perry, United States District Court, St. Louis, Missouri.

In addition to teaching at Oxford University, Mr. Funk has taught at the University of Chicago School of Law, Northwestern University School of Law, the University of Pristina (Kosovo), the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law School, Loyola University of Chicago, and the United States Department of Justice's National Advocacy Center.