Abstract
In this article, I propose a contextual approach to ICC jurisdiction normatively to be adopted by the Court’s Office of the Prosecutor and Pre-Trial Chamber in investigating and eventually prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute. Under this contextual approach, I contend that both the Prosecutor and Pre-Trial Chamber are able to consider evidence outside the traditional notions of territorial and temporal jurisdiction to conceptualize a conflict in its entirety. The totality of cross-border and inter-temporal evidence should be considered when deciding whether to investigate attacks that the Prosecutor has a reasonable basis to believe fall within the Court’s jurisdiction. Procedurally, the multi-step jurisdictional framework, the “Funnel Approach,”—beginning with the preliminary examination of a situation and proceeding to issuing an arrest warrant—provides flexibility to admit extra-jurisdictional evidence. Textually, the open-ended ‘gravity’ threshold does not limit the Prosecutor in considering evidence within the Rome Statute’s territorial or temporal limitations.
Recommended Citation
Hassan Ahmad, Context at the International Criminal Court, 29 Pace Int'l L. Rev. 132 (2017)DOI: https://doi.org/10.58948/2331-3536.1369
Available at: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pilr/vol29/iss1/3
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Comments
This paper was also presented as part of the “New Voices” panel at the 2016 Annual Conference of the American Society of International Law.