Concept of Victim in International Criminal Law

Defining the concept of victim in international criminal law has a considerable significance in terms of its tight relations with crime and reparation that must be paid to victim. In simple meaning, victim is a person - natural or legal - suffered from perpetration of international crimes. Persons could be victimized both directly and indirectly; in this sense, family and relatives of a direct victim also could be known as victims. Subsequent to this, suffered incurred could be physical, psychological, mental, emotional, financial and etc. According to instruments in humanitarian law and statute of international criminal court and other international criminal tribunal, there are two categories of victims; first, natural persons that they are the main victims of international crimes and second, institutions, organizations and sometimes cultural properties. Of course, international community as history shown also can be introduced as a permanent victim in every international crime. Thus, any kind of damage incurred to any of these victims must be repaired when an international crime committed against them. Generally speaking, it could be said that damages could be repaired even in situations that there is no direct victims because there is always an international community.