ICC Prosecutor issues OTP 2016-2018 Strategic Plan

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, issued her new Strategic Plan that will guide the work of the Office of the Prosecutor for the period of 2016 to 2018. 

The Strategic Plan for 2016-2018 builds upon the prosecutorial policy outlined in the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan; continuing to make quality a central feature of the functioning and performance of the Office in all spheres of its work. 

“We will maintain the positive measures adopted by the 2012-2015 Strategic Plan and work to further enhance them by strictly adhering to our focus on quality output as well as the efficiency of our work”, said Prosecutor Bensouda.  “These measures have already produced concrete results for our cases. We’ll spare no effort to ensure we consistently generate such outcomes”, she added. 

The new Strategic Plan aims to further develop the Office’s high performance and adapt it to existing challenges. Viewed together, the combination of the new Strategic Plan, the proposed Basic Size, the performance indicators and the risk management initiatives undertaken by the Office, offers to both States Parties and other stakeholders, a comprehensive and integrated picture of the way forward for the Office in the years to come. 

Part of the strategic plan will “take a victim-responsive approach throughout all aspects of its work.” 

“It seeks to bring justice to the victims of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community. While the Office will never be able to address the expectations of all victims, it will continue to take a victim-responsive approach throughout all aspects of its work, by (1) taking into accounts their views; (2) communicating, where possible together with the Registry, with the affected communities about the role of the Court and the Office’s decisions, and (3) ensuring that their well-being is duly taken care of when they interact with the Office.” 

The office has developed nine strategic goals for the period 2016-2018 to ensure that its performance is high regrouped around three major themes: 

• Achieving high performance in relation to the Office’s mandate
• Creating the necessary conditions to fulfil the Office’s mandate and
• Contributing to a coordinated investigative and prosecutorial strategy to further close the impunity gap for ICC crimes.