ICC Releases Policy Paper on Case Selection from the Office of the Prosecutor (September 14, 2016) [1]
On September 14, 2016, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, published a policy paper [3] that lays out the procedure of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) for selecting and prioritizing cases. According to the press release [4], this paper works in conjunction with a previous policy paper [5] that explains the process of opening investigations into situations as a whole. The OTP formulated the new paper based on the applicable legal framework, jurisprudence of the Court, operational experience of the OTP, national and international judicial practice, and extensive internal and external consultations. In speaking on the release of the policy paper, Prosecutor Bensouda stated, “[W]e are equipping our Office with clear and transparent guidelines for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the selection and prioritization [of] our cases . . . . In particular, [it] will assist the Office in the often difficult assessment of how to allocate its finite resources to the ever burgeoning demand arising from situations of mass atrocity.” The OTP indicated that the document “will serve as a key guiding instrument for the Office of the Prosecutor in its selection and prioritisation of cases for investigation and prosecution.”