1. What are slavery crimes?
Slavery crimes are among the most fundamental of international crimes known to humankind. The key to slavery or enslavement is the exercise of powers attaching to the rights of ownership over a person or persons.
Contemporary slavery crimes include enslavement, sexual slavery and the slave trade.
2. Does the ICC have jurisdiction over all slavery crimes? What is the scope of slavery crimes under the Rome Statute?
The Court’s jurisdiction is governed by its Statute. The Rome Statute expressly includes certain slavery crimes. Enslavement and sexual slavery are crimes against humanity under article 7, and sexual slavery is a war crime under article 8. The Court thus has jurisdiction over these crimes, in a manner consistent with its Statute. For this reason, the Court has no jurisdiction over historical slavery crimes before 2002.
Under certain circumstances, certain conduct can constitute evidence or indications of, or even amount to the crime of enslavement under the Statute. This includes conduct or acts of trafficking, forced labour and reducing a person to servile status, child soldiers, forced marriages, child brides, child labour, labour of persons with disabilities.
Slavery crimes can also intersect with other Rome Statute crimes. They are often gender-based crimes and can overlap with crimes against and affecting children.
3. What are the key objectives of the new Policy?
The new Policy on Slavery Crimes is the first policy issued by an international court or tribunal specifically addressing international slavery crimes. It represents the ICC Office of the Prosecutor’s (OTP) commitment to recognise, redress and seek the non-repetition of slavery crimes.
In several recent cases of the ICC including Ntaganda (Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) and Ongwen (Situation in Uganda), convictions were entered for slavery crimes as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a further significant step, this new Policy will provide guidance, clarity, and a basis of skills development for OTP staff in all situations and cases where slavery crimes come before the ICC, including in ongoing investigations. The Policy will also communicate the Office’s current and evolving positions on slavery crimes to survivor communities, States Parties and justice actors.
4. How will this Policy impact the OTP’s work?
This new Policy strengthens the Office’s ability to achieve accountability for slavery crimes. It does this by conveying and applying several key principles to all facets of its work. These core principles include the emphasis on survivor-centered and trauma-informed approaches, intersectionality, contextualisation, and gender- and child-competent practices. While resolving common misconceptions about slavery crimes, the Office seeks to situate contemporary slavery crimes within their historical and cultural perspectives and to ensure their full and faithful characterisation.
The Policy and its key principles apply to all phases of the Office’s work, including preliminary examinations, investigations, confirmation of charges, trial, sentencing, appeal and reparations, thus enhancing its effectiveness in investigating and prosecuting slavery crimes. This new Policy is also harmonised with the 2022 Policy on the Crime of Gender Persecution, the 2023 Policy on Gender-Based Crimes and the 2023 Policy on Children, and other relevant OTP guidance, to allow for comprehensive and consistent approaches to the Office’s work.
5. Will international jurisprudence and national authorities benefit from this Policy?
This Policy developed by the OTP was achieved through a comprehensive consultation process with more than 150 external experts from over 50 countries and 50 written submissions from 24 countries, including survivor communities, civil society organisations, advocates, academics, national authorities, international organisations, investigative mechanisms and other justice actors.
The new Policy contributes to the progressive development of the international jurisprudence and best practices regarding accountability, redress and non-repetition of slavery crimes.
As the ICC is complementary to national criminal jurisdictions, the Office commits to working closely with States, accountability mechanisms, and other relevant partners to facilitate coordinated and effective accountability efforts, aiming to close the impunity gap for international slavery crimes at both national and international levels as outlined in the 2024 Policy on Complementarity and Cooperation.