Policy and Practice: Does the International Criminal Court have the will to prosecute environmental crimes?

The author describes the rapid deforestation of Cambodia, driven by a corrupt government and politically connected timber barons, which led to the displacement and abuse of hundreds of thousands of people. Despite a 2016 ICC policy stating that the court would prioritise crimes resulting in the destruction of the environment or illegal dispossession of land, a 2014 complaint regarding Cambodia remains inactive. The document calls on the ICC to open an investigation to signal that environmental destruction and land grabbing can be prosecuted as crimes against humanity.

• Cambodia experienced one of the fastest deforestation rates globally, losing over 2 million hectares between 2001 and 2019, according to NASA data.
• Mass land grabbing in Cambodia, facilitated by corrupt government officials and timber barons, has resulted in the illegal and violent displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, including half of the 190,000 minority indigenous people who lost their ancestral land.
• In 2016, the ICC Prosecutor established a policy to prioritise crimes within its jurisdiction that involve the illegal exploitation of natural resources, illegal dispossession of land, or the destruction of the environment.
• Despite the 2016 policy and a complaint filed by Global Diligence in 2014, the ICC has not taken action to prosecute the Cambodian case or any other case aligned with the policy to tackle environmental destruction.

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Policy and Practice: Does the International Criminal Court have the will to prosecute environmental crimes? https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/policy-and-practice-does-the-international-criminal-court-have-the-will-to-prosecute-environmental-crimes/

Chicago

Global Witness. Policy and Practice: Does the International Criminal Court have the will to prosecute environmental crimes? n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/policy-and-practice-does-the-international-criminal-court-have-the-will-to-prosecute-environmental-crimes/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Global Witness |title=Policy and Practice: Does the International Criminal Court have the will to prosecute environmental crimes? |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/policy-and-practice-does-the-international-criminal-court-have-the-will-to-prosecute-environmental-crimes/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{globalwitnessndpolicy, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Policy and Practice: Does the International Criminal Court have the will to prosecute environmental crimes?}}, publisher = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/policy-and-practice-does-the-international-criminal-court-have-the-will-to-prosecute-environmental-crimes/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }