International Criminal Court Dismisses Claims for Transgenerational Harm (July 19, 2018) [1]
On July 19, 2018, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court dismissed [3] (available in French) requests for reparations made by applicants in the case of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga for transgenerational harm, which refers to harm passed from parent to child. According to the press release [4], the Chamber looked at “the progress of scientific studies on the transgenerational transmission of trauma and, in particular, of two theories – epigenetic transmission, which is biological, and social transmission, which is learned.” It went on to review the principle requiring a casual nexus between a criminal act and alleged harm, noting that a causal chain may be interrupted by another event that adds to the harm of the individuals. The Chamber then dismissed the applications “finding that the applicants concerned had not established to the requisite standard of proof the causal nexus between the psychological harm they had personally suffered and the crimes of which Mr Katanga was convicted.”