ZIMBABWE: FROM IMPUNITY TO ACCOUNTABILITY Experts (medical and legal) who work closely with victims of human rights abuses are aware of the dangers of retraumatisation of victims, whether in court proceedings or before quasi-judicial or administrative-investigative bodies such as a TJRC. Proper and adequate support systems must be set up to deal with re-awakened trauma before, during and afterwards; victims must have the right not to be involved if they don’t wish to be, just as much as their right to have their stories told if they want to must be protected and indeed entrenched at the heart of proceedings; questions as to whether all investigations and interviews of victims and witnesses will take place publicly, or whether some could be held behind closed doors, need to be asked and answered, as do ways of catering for any special needs of women and child victims, and victims of sexual crimes whatever 30 their age or gender. 5.5 The relationship between a TJRC and a new government Unless the Government has the political will to make a TJRC succeed, it won’t. State resources of all kinds will have to be called upon to operate the organ, irrespective of how it is set-up, 30 Leading international human rights organizations have recently done considerable work in developing concrete strategies for supporting the rights of victims who will be appearing before the International Criminal Court (ICC), more so than in any other previous international tribunals. Although a TJRC will be neither an international body nor a criminal court, Zimbabwe civil society has a golden opportunity to log-into the ideas and recommendations which are emerging from this network, drawing on the considerable expertise lying beyond Zimbabwe’s borders, which can then be applied to the country’s specific situation. Ideas emerging from the ICC victims-rights network which would seem to be of applicability include some of the following: the need for proper training for all those staff who will have contact with victims, including any lawyers involved; mechanisms to deal with complaints from victims of their treatment in the process; means of dealing with vicarious traumatisation of staff working closely with victims; the use of clear and easily understood forms and documents, as well as publicity materials, so that victims know what the process is all about as well as what it is not about (i.e. it is not a criminal or civil court) and the limits of the mandate of the TJRC; the wide dissemination of relevant information in appropriate languages and through optimum media, including radio and ‘walk-in’ availability; the use of specific strategies, programmes, materials and experts for situation-specific locations; the use of multi-disciplinary investigation teams with sufficient time to deal with things from the victims’ perspective; whatever the reparation process of the TJRC is, the need for victims to know clearly how this fits in with the truth-telling and reconciliation aspects. 18