British War Crimes Investigations and the ICC's Shadow

The Independent reported this weekend on the status of the United Kingdom's investigations into allegations that its forces committed war crimes in Iraq:

Dozens of cases in which British soldiers are accused of unlawfully killing Iraqi civilians have already been referred to prosecutors, The Independent can reveal, with more than 50 deaths set to be examined.

The Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat) has sought advice from the Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) on unlawful death cases involving 35 alleged killings, and 36 cases of alleged abuse and mistreatment, it can be disclosed.

The British investigations are being conducted in the shadow of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which in May 2014 reopened a preliminary examination into British conduct in Iraq. In 2006, then prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo declined to investigate allegations of UK abuses, arguing in part that they were not widespread enough to meet the court's "gravity" threshold. The decision by new prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to reopen the preliminary examination likely had several causes. The ICC noted that it had received substantial new information on possible UK crimes, mostly compiled by European NGOs. But Bensouda's decision likely also reflected increased institutional confidence and a new willingness to discomfit—if not yet formally investigate—major powers. The Independent article suggests that the UK is taking ICC scrutiny quite seriously.