Commonalities in Recent Reparations Practice: Reflections on a Wider Legal Sensibility

The expectation that those impacted by violations of public international law will receive a remedy has ballooned in recent years. Such expectations have shaped international legal discourse in unexpected ways and generated concrete action. In DRC v. Uganda (2022), the International Court of Justice awarded US330 million in damages for wartime violations. 1 International climate change talks are increasingly preoccupied with a controversial fund to address loss and damage. 2 In 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its largest victims reparations order. 3 These developments are celebrated as examples of realizing an individual’s international legal right to reparation. While an important starting point, this perspective fails to provide a full picture of these novel practices.