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”.

中文翻译：

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继国际刑事法院检察官办公室 2016 年关于案件选择和优先排序的政策文件：走向国际生态灭绝罪？

国际刑事法院检察官办公室 (ICC) 2016 年关于案件选择和优先排序的政策文件是一项重大进展，因为它强调了国际刑事法院在起诉环境破坏、非法自然资源开采和土地掠夺方面可能发挥的作用。然而，出于显而易见的原因，国际刑事法院检察官办公室的政策文件无法扩大法院目前对生态灭绝的管辖权，这取决于对《国际刑事法院规约》的正式修正案，而且该政策文件只是一份内部政策文件。但更根本的是，据预测，2016 年国际刑事法院检察官办公室可能标志着关于如何在国际法下概念化国际生态灭绝罪以及最终国际刑事法院是否应对生态灭绝拥有更广泛管辖权的辩论重新焕发活力。本文旨在批判性地评估如何在国际法下对生态灭绝罪进行概念化，并评估基于国际刑事法院规约对现有罪行的狭义定义将生态灭绝概念化的局限性。此外，本文旨在批判性地评估通过 2016 年 OTP 政策文件后过去三年半的发展，并指出 OTP 在处理最近的国家信息通报和国际刑事法院判例法本身方面的实践迄今并未表明转变环境破坏、非法开采自然资源、侵占土地案件的法律解释。因此，到目前为止，他们在澄清法院对“生态灭绝”的现有管辖权范围方面做得很少。