The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is pleased to invite public comments on its draft policy on cyber-enabled crimes under the Rome Statute.
The Office welcomes the engagement of all stakeholders in this new initiative to advance accountability for crimes under the Rome Statute enabled by conduct in cyberspace. The Office encourages comments from all partners, especially from States Parties, civil society, interested private sector corporations, and other organisations with particular expertise in this area.
This collective work will culminate in a final policy paper that will guide the Office in addressing the increasing importance of cyberspace to the exercise of the ICC's jurisdiction at all stages of its work, including investigations and prosecutions. This will further promote transparency in the Office's initiatives in this area, while also marking the start of further work to help develop standards, best practices, and frameworks for cooperation of potential relevance also to the efforts of national authorities.
The forthcoming policy paper draws on the crimes in the Rome Statute, considered in the context of principles and rules of international law more broadly. It will contribute to the growing body of materials seeking to affirm the international law standards governing cyber operations, and to further clarify the manner of their application.
As ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC has stated:
"The tools used to commit serious international crimes constantly evolve-from bullets and bombs to social media, the internet, and perhaps now even artificial intelligence. As states and other actors increasingly resort to operations in cyberspace, this new and rapidly developing means of statecraft and warfare can be misused to carry out or facilitate war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and even the aggression of one State against another. International criminal justice can and must adapt to this new landscape."
The Office is grateful to Professor Marko Milanović, Special Adviser to the Prosecutor on Cyber-Enabled Crimes, for his assistance in the development of this policy.
The current draft is available to download HERE.
Comments should be sent to no later than 23:59 (CET) on 30 May 2025. All input received by this date will be carefully considered in the internal review and revision process.
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