section_path: Structure/Organs/Office of the Prosecutor/Policy papers
section_name: Policy papers
paragraph_text: Policy papers
  
  The Office of the Prosecutor occasionally publishes policy papers that put forth the considerations given to topics the office focuses on, and often the criteria for case selection. While a policy paper does not give the Court jurisdiction over a new category of crimes, it promises what the Office of Prosecutor will consider when selecting cases in the upcoming term of service. OTP's policy papers are subject to revision.
  
  The following papers have been published since the start of the ICC:
  
  The paper published in September 2016 announced that the ICC will focus on environmental crimes when selecting cases. The Office will give particular consideration to prosecuting Rome Statute crimes that are committed by means of, or that result in, "inter alia, the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land". This has been interpreted as a major shift in environmental law and a move with significant effects.