On March 6, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court published a draft Policy on cyber-enabled crimes, which is now open for public consultation. States and non-state actors are increasingly using advanced cyber tools, including artificial intelligence, to commit or facilitate crimes against international law. This happens both in peacetime situations and especially in wartime. The incidence of such potentially criminal use of new technologies will only be on the rise, and it requires a response. The draft Policy is part of that response, explaining both how the Office will interpret the provisions of the Rome Statute of the ICC in a cyber context and what practical measures it will adopt when conducting its investigations and prosecutions. All legal systems must adapt to challenges posed by new technologies, including cyber and AI. There are various processes through which this kind of adaptation can be done. One such process—legislative action—is exceptionally difficult in the international legal system, especially in a political climate that is not exactly conducive to multilateralism. Rather than making new law, therefore, the international legal system generally needs to apply “old” rules, designed long before cyber technologies became so ubiquitous or before they even existed, to issues arising from the use of such technologies. There is simply no alternative.
ICC Office of the Prosecutor Releases Draft Policy on Cyber-Enabled Crimes | Lawfare
