The International Criminal Court (the ‘ICC’) recently published an official policy document which lays out the procedure of the Office of the Prosecutor for selecting and prioritising cases. The ICC which has previously ruled on cases such as Genocide and various War Crimes will now broaden their investigations to other crimes against humanity, including but not limited to the environment.
The Case Selection and Prioritisation Policy Paper was developed on the basis of the applicable legal framework and jurisprudence of the ICC. It also draws upon the operational experience of the Office of the Prosecutor over the last 14 years as well as the practice of other international and national courts and tribunal.
Historically the crimes targeted by the ICC focused on circumstances where extreme violence occurred and not the overlooked destruction of a people, culture or environment left in its wake. The new expansive selection criteria states that the gravity of the crimes may be assessed through the, “increased vulnerability of victims, the terror subsequently instilled, or the social, economic and environmental damage inflicted on the affected communities”. This allows for an increased number of crimes to be recognized as well as people to benefit from it.
The renovation of case prioritisation allows for the recognition of major human rights violations that are often overlooked. These crimes are committed during apparent times of peace but with results just as devastating as known crimes of war. The ICC is about to enter a new phase of case selection and hopefully prosecution. This new policy improvement allows for a shift of focus from the typical crimes the ICC have been known to prosecute. It is not that there has been a change of jurisdiction but rather a targeting of how crimes are committed as well as the fall out of a particular crime. This is accomplished through the use of crimes already listed in their statues. The renovation of case prioritisation allows for the recognition of major human rights violations that are often overlooked.
Two years ago, lawyers in Cambodia filed a criminal complaint against Cambodia’s “ruling elite” at the ICC alleging that crimes against humanity had been committed by authorities responsible for widespread land grabbing. The filing is widely seen as test case that human rights groups hope will set a legal precedent with ramifications for instances of land grabbing in other jurisdictions. Lawyers for Global Diligence, representing ten filing victims, state that about 777,000 Cambodians had been affected by land grabbing and that this amounts to a crime of forcible transfers under the ICC statute. An initial assessment on whether to open a preliminary investigation through the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor has been sought. Although forced mass eviction is not specifically listed on the statute, it can now be prosecuted as a crime against humanity because it occurs as a result of land grabbing.
Click here for full Policy Paper on Case Selection and Prioritisation.
Click here for further commentary in the Guardian.