This will ensure that the Court would not just be giving out justice but ensuring that victims get adequate redress in the process, Tina Dolgopol, law lecturer at Flinders University in Australia and a member of the Women's Caucus, told Terra Viva.

Likewise, the ICC must protect victims and witnesses in criminal proceedings by establishing a strong and effective victims' and witnesses unit, activists say.

"In no domestic jurisdiction is it the function of the Prosecutor to be offering counselling to people. Its job is to investigate, present evidence and seek convictions," Dolgopol said. "As the ICC will not be a domestic court, it will be all the more important for victims to have adequate trauma counselling."

Dolgopol explained that the Women's Caucus wanted create a victims' trauma unit within the ICC's Registry rather than the Prosecutor's Office, as this would enable it to be more neutral. As important as bringing justice to victims through the Court was the issue of their rehabilitation, especially of women survivors who often bear a disproportionate part of the impact of war and internal strife.

For instance, Dolgopol said, many women survivors of war crimes have to cope with bereavement, and the social and economic difficulties that come with being single or widows.

"Many women become victims second time around if they stay in their own villages, so internal resettlement is inevitable. In Rwanda, there is evidence that some villages have been entirely obliterated in the conflict and populations have been forced to migrate," she said. "Relief organisations working in the area try to help but are not coping. They just don't have the resources."

Dolgopol also cited the example of the Asian comfort women, who were used as sex slaves by Japanese imperial army in World War II. It was clear that they have a strong need for recognition for the wrong done to them, she noted. "These and other women victims of sexual violence are victims three times over - victims of the crimes perpetuated against them, victims of ostracism caused by the 'shameful' nature of sex crimes, and victims of their own guilt," she said.

Ensuring that the Court is able to authorise damage payments and rehabilitation of victims would help address these concerns, she added. Similar concerns had been aired by Fiona McKay of REDRESS when she addressed the Plenary last week. McKay stated that, although the creation of an ICC is an important symbol for survivors of war crimes and its ability to bring criminals to justice would convince victims that justice has been done, punishment of criminals does not automatically give victims adequate redress.

The Court must have the capability, personnel and gender expertise to deal with women victims of sexual or gender violence, she said. Already, victims' financial and emotional needs and their right to be treated with compassion and dignity in judicial processes are increasingly being recognised at both international and national level, McKay said.

"It is clear that the international community could do a lot more to provide services and assistance for victims to help them rebuild their lives," she said. Alison Dickens