Expanding Past Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, and War Crimes: Can an ICC Policy Paper Expand the Court's Mandate to Prosecuting Environmental Crimes?

In September 2015, Michelle Campos, her father, and grandfather were executed during an attack that displaced 3,000 indigenous people in the resource-rich Mindanao region of the Philippines from their homes, in order to gain easy access to the region's coal, nickel, and gold reserves. The Campos family was killed by paramilitaries who were protecting mining companies involved; the government did nothing to help. Environmental crimes and land grabbing like what the Campos family experienced have become an acceptable business practice across the globe. Companies and governments are forcing their business agendas on innocent individuals, destroying peoples' homes, spiritual lands and ways of life. Recently, there has been a global call to take more action against those who commit environmental crimes, by prosecuting environmental wrongdoers in international forums and making clear that the commission of crimes against the environment will not be tolerated. Subsequently, on September 15, 2016, the Office of the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "the Court") published a Policy Paper on Case Selection and Prioritization ("Policy Paper"), outlining a list of new priorities that would be investigated by the Office of the Prosecutor to be brought before the Court, including environmental crimes and land grabbing.