The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) welcomed on Friday the decision of the court to award victims €52.4 million in reparations for the war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated by an African rebel group in Uganda.

According to the fund, the decision is final as it has been addressed in all grounds of appeals submitted by Ongwen’s defense team. The funds, which will be awarded to victims of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by Ongwen, will be delivered through “symbolic cash payments, medical, psychological, and socio-economic rehabilitation programmes.”

On April 7, the ICC Appeals Chamber confirmed the Trial Chamber’s decision on reparations, rejecting the appeal of Ongwen’s defense on all grounds. The chamber upheld the decision to protect victims’ identities due to security concerns. The chamber also dismissed arguments on overlapping claims in Ugandan courts, asserting that compensation claimed or taken in national courts is distinct from reparations under the ICC framework.

In February 2024, the Trial Chamber of the ICC ordered reparations to approximately 49,772 direct and indirect victims of Ongwen’s crimes, concluding that they had suffered “serious and long-lasting physical, moral and material harm.” Additionally, the court concluded that the “entire community of victims suffered community harm,” and that children of direct victims born out of sexual-based crimes suffered “transgenerational harm.”

Article 75 of the Rome Statute mandates the ICC to issue reparations to victims of crimes under its jurisdiction, whether in the form of restitution, compensation, or rehabilitation. The reparations can be issued either individually or collectively.

Article 79 of the statute establishes the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) as a means of giving reparations to victims of crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC. Established in 2002 by the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC and mainly financed by voluntary contributions of each state, the fund currently operates in seven countries: the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Georgia, Mali, and Uganda.

Prosecutor v. Dominic Ongwen was a landmark case before the ICC between 2016 and 2021. Ongwen, a brigade commander in the Christian extremist Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2021 for crimes including murder, torture, enslavement and use of child soldiers.