ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an overview of victims' right to participate throughout the criminal justice process. It explores international instruments that highlight victims' rights to receive information, to be heard, and to be protected. The chapter also explores the United Nation (UN) strategy for victim support and compare the status quo to remedial trends in international human rights law. It argues that although UN reforms are seemingly positive, significant improvement in assistance and support to victims is required to provide adequate reparations. Traditionally, international and domestic criminal justice theory has marginalised the role of victims. There are various modalities in which restorative justice is practiced; these include victim-offender mediation, rehabilitation services, victim compensation schemes, and community service. To facilitate participatory rights, international criminal institutions have incorporated, in various ways, restorative justice models. Victims of sexual exploitation and abuse are victims of human rights violations and should receive reparations to address the harm caused.
