After the ICC Office of the Prosecutor\u2019s 2016 Policy Paper on Case Selection and Prioritisation: Towards an International Crime of Ecocide?

Ricardo Pereira

doi:10.1007/s10609-020-09393-y

Abstract

The 2016 Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) policy paper on case selection and prioritization is a significant development in that it highlights the possible role of the ICC in prosecuting environmental damage, illegal natural resource exploitation and land grabbing. For obvious reasons, however, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor policy paper could not expand the court’s current jurisdiction over ecocide which is dependent on a formal amendment to the ICC Statute and the policy paper is only an internal policy document. But more fundamentally it has been predicted that the 2016 ICC Office of the Prosecutor may signify the revitalization of the debate on how an international crime of ecocide could be conceptualised under international law and ultimately whether the ICC should have a broader jurisdiction over ecocide. This article aims to critically evaluate how a crime of ecocide could be conceptualised under international law, as well as to assess the limitations of conceptualising ecocide based on the narrow definition of the existing crimes under the ICC Statute. Moreover, this article aims to critically evaluate developments in past three and half years following the adoption 2016 OTP Policy Paper, and notes that the practice of the OTP in dealing with recent national communications and the ICC case law itself to date have not signified a considerable shift in interpreting the law in cases involving environmental damage, illegal natural resources exploitation and land grabbing. Therefore, they have done little so far to clarify the scope of the court’s existing jurisdiction over “ecocide”.

Highlights

On 15 September 2016 the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a policy paper on caseRICARDO PEREIRA selection and prioritization, which highlights a possible role of the ICC in prosecuting environmental damage, illegal natural resource exploitation and land grabbing committed in context of the existing crimes under the Rome Statute.[1]
More fundamentally it has been predicted that the 2016 ICC Office of the Prosecutor may signify the revitalization of the debate on how an international crime of ecocide could be conceptualised under international law and whether the ICC should have a broader jurisdiction over ecocide
3.3 Evaluation of the Potential for OTP Prosecutions for Environmental Damage in the Context of the Existing International Crimes. It is clear from the above analysis that it is possible in principle for individual criminal liability to be assigned for environmental damage under the existing crimes covered by the Rome Statute, the main limitation is that the prohibited acts of ‘‘ecocide’’ would amount to a serious crimes against persons, committed through environmental means.[196]

Summary

Introduction

RICARDO PEREIRA selection and prioritization, which highlights a possible role of the ICC in prosecuting environmental damage, illegal natural resource exploitation and land grabbing committed in context of the existing crimes under the Rome Statute.[1] This is not the first initiative to galvanize the debate over the creation of a crime of ecocide in international law. Despite the challenges faced by those initiatives, they provide evidence of an increased interest from citizens, politicians and the ICC itself – as evidenced by the 2016 OTP policy paper – in redefining the limits of the court’s jurisdiction which could lead to the creation of an international crime of ecocide.[7]

Objectives

Results

Conclusion