In international law victims' issues have gained more and more attention over the last decades. In particular in transitional justice processes the victim is being given high priority. It is to be seen in this context that the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court foresees a rather excessive victim participation concept in criminal prosecution. In this volume issue is taken at first with the definition of victims, and secondly with the role of the victim as a witness and as a participant. Several chapters address this matter with a view to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) and the Trial against Demjanjuk in Germany. In a third part the interests of the victims outside the criminal trial are being discussed. In the final part the role of civil society actors are being tackled. This volume thus gives an overview of the role of victims in transitional justice processes from an interdisciplinary angle, combiningacademic research and practical experience.

Victims of International Crimes: An Interdisciplinary Discourse.- Victim-Oriented Perspectives; Rights and Realities.- On Victims and Non-Victims: Observations From Rwanda. - The Status of Victims Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.- The Individualising and Universalising Discourse of Law: Victims in Truth Commissions and Trials.- Redressing Sexual Violence in Transitional Justice and the Labelling of Women as "Victims".- Everyone Wanted to be Victim How Victims of Persecution Disappear Within a Victimised Nation.- Transcending Victimhood: Child Soldiers and Restorative Justice.- The Protection of Victims in War Crimes Trials.-Victims as Witnesses Views from the Defence.- Participation Rights of Victims as Civil Parties and the Challenges o Their Implementation Before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.- The ICCs Practice on Victim Participation.- Victims Rights and Peace.- Victims, Excombatants, and the Communities: Irreconcilable Demands or a Dangerous Convergence? Victims of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.- Victims of Civil War.- Valorising Victims Ambivalences in Contemporary Trends in Transnational Justice.- A Reflection on Transnational Justice in Guatemala 15 Years After the Peace Agreements.- The Role and Mandates of the ICC Trust Fund for Victims.- From Victimhood to Political Protagonism: Victim Groups and Associations in the Process of Dealing with a Violent Past.- The Role of Cambodian Civil Society in the Victim Participation Scheme of the Extraordinary Chambers in the courts of Cambodia.- Critical Memory Studies and the Politics of Victimhood: Reassessing the Role of Victimhood Nationalism in Northern Ireland and South Africa.