Collective Victimisation Of Stateless Peoples 3 289 The Victim Label in International Law The 1985 UN Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, today by some victimologists termed the Magna Carta of victim rights, is the first international legal instrument explicitly recognising the position of victims of crime and abuse of power. The Victim’s Declaration distinguishes between two definitions of victimhood: one specific for victims of crime, the other focusing on victims of abuse of power. ‘Abuse of power’ is a term used to refer to the abuse of political or economic power of a legitimate authority, for instance a state, which results in the victimisation of certain (groups of) people. In preparation of the provision on victimisation due to ‘abuse of power’ in the Victim’s Declaration, the Secretary General and the Committee on Crime Prevention and Control, reiterated that:12 (…) while victims of traditional crimes should also be dealt with, major attention should be given to the victims of illegal abuses of power, especially of a large-scale nature, and those which may not even yet be proscribed, yet whose impact may be far greater than assumed, with particularly serious consequences for vulnerable disadvantaged segments of the population (see E/CN.5/l983/2, paras. 137-143). Persecution, especially when institutionalized, may victimize masses of people, and economic malpractices perpetrated by powerful trading partners can inflict great harm on unsuspecting consumers, especially in developing countries.13 Because the present contribution specifically looks at hostile state-treatment of stateless people on their territory, a situation that might amount to the crime of persecution, it makes sense in formulating the definition of ‘victims of abuse of power’ as perpetuated in the Victim’s Declaration, instead of the definition relating to conventional ‘victims of crime’. Following Article 18, the term ‘victims of abuse of power’ refers to: (…) persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury, emotional suffering, economic loss or 12 13 For an overview of the procedural history of the Victim Declaration see United Nations Office of Legal Affairs, ‘Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power: Procedural History’ <http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/ha/dbpjvcap/ dbpjvcap.html> accessed 29 March 2013. Count 3, ‘Introduction in: ESC, “Report of the Secretary-General, Guidelines for Measures on Behalf of Victims of Crime and Abuses of Power”’ (12 March 1984) UN Doc E/AC. 57/1984/14. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 285-293