Situation Selection Regime at the International Criminal Court: Law, Policy, Practice: 2017

The International Criminal Court (the Court) in The Hague, in fulfilling its mandate to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious international crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, is neither able nor intended to investigate all situations of crisis across the world. Selectivity is unavoidable for the operation of this international organization. However, the authority of the Prosecutor of the Court to select and prioritize a situation over other situations is not unfettered. This book studies the situation selection regime at the International Criminal Court. In doing so, it first clarifies the notion of situation under the constituent instrument of the Court, the Rome Statute. In addition to this conceptualization, through describing the situation selection process and criteria, the Court's law, policies and practices in this regard are examined. Dealing with the misunderstanding of the Court's selectivity, this book reads the situation selection regime from the lens of expressivism. This theory justifies the selectivity in the Court's operation. The book is a resource for anyone who seeks more insight into the situation selection regime of the Court.

Introduction Part One. Formulating the Concept of Situation in the Rome Statute Sense Chapter I. Situation v. Case Chapter II. Defining Elements of the Notion of a Situation Part Two. Situation Selection Process Chapter I. Trigger Mechanism Chapter II. Identification Stage Chapter III. Preliminary Examination Chapter IV. Making a Decision on the Situation Selection Part Three. Situation Selection Criteria Chapter I. Jurisdiction Chapter II. Admissability Chapter III. Interests of Justice Part Four. Situation Selection in Light of Expressivism Chapter I. Conceptualization of Expressivism in the Context of the ICC Chapter II. Implications of Expressivism on the Situation Selection Conclusion