Investigations

The work of the OTP may be triggered in three ways:

• A State Party may refer a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed;

• The United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, may refer any situation to the Prosecutor.

• The Prosecutor, subject to Pre-Trial Chamber authorization, has proprio motu authority, on the basis of information about crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court, allegedly committed by a national of a State Party or on the territory of a State Party, to open an investigation;

Initiating an investigation:

Before initiating an investigation, the Prosecutor must determine whether “there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation”, which is decided by reference to the factors mentioned in Article 53 of the Rome Statute. These require a reasonable basis to believe that a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court has been committed, a determination of admissibility (gravity and complementarity), and consideration of interests of justice.

How does the Office apply the Rome Statute to start its cases?

a) selecting situations

Once the requirements of temporal and subject-matter jurisdiction are met, the Office is guided by the standard of gravity as mandated by the Rome Statute. Although any crime falling within the jurisdiction of the Court is a serious matter, the Statute foresees and requires an additional consideration of graviy; the Office must determine that a case is of sufficient gravity to justify further action by the Court. In the view of the OTP, factors relevant in assess-ing gravity include:  

• the scale of the crimes;
• the nature of the crimes;
• the manner of commission of the crimes;  
• and the impact of the crimes.

In 2004, the Office independently selected the situations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC") and Northern Uganda as the gravest admissible situations under the jurisdiction of the Court. The situations in Darfur Sudan and the Central African Republic, also met the gravity standard.

b) Triggering jurisdiction

The triggering mechanism does not in any way change the way the Office selects situations, cases or individuals to be investigated. It does not make a difference whether the situation is referred by a State Party or the UNSC. The selection of situations, cases inside the situations and persons to be investigated is always an independent prosecutorial decision based on the Statute and the evidence collected.