Common use of The Preamble Clause in Contracts

The Preamble. Before addressing the provisions of the Rome Statute, it is important to examine the terms of the preamble to determine the tenor of the Statute’s contents, and to assist the interpretation of specific provisions.1158 The preamble of the Rome Statute recalls that “millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities” during the twentieth century.1159 In this manner, it signals that addressing victimisation is a central motivation behind the Court’s establishment. That core motivation, as set out in the preamble, is reflected in the provisions of the Statute, which explicitly allow for victim participation and reparations as a feature of the Court’s proceedings. In line with the predominantly anthropocentric framing of the Rome Statute, the Preamble primarily refers to victims in anthropocentric terms—“children, women and men”.1160 However, concerning harm to the environment, the preambular references to victims are 1158 Though the Rome Statute Preamble is not per se an applicable part of the Statute under article 21, it may be used as context to interpret the Statute’s provisions; Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969, article 31(2) (“The context for the purpose of the interpretation of a treaty shall comprise, in addition to the text, including its preamble and annexes”). The Appeals Chamber has stated that the Rome Statute may be interpreted in lights of its purposes as “gathered from its preamble and general tenor of the treaty”; Situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Judgment on the Prosecutor's Application for Extraordinary Review of Pre-Trial Chamber I's 31 March 2006 Decision Denying Leave to Appeal, ICC-01/04-168, 13 July 2006, para. 33; Katanga article 74 Decision, paras.55, 1122. See also ▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇, “Preambles in Treaty Interpretation”, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 164 (2016), 1281-1343, p.1282. 1159 Rome Statute, Preamble, para.2. 1160 Rome Statute, Preamble, para.2. unclear and raise more questions than they answer. While it has been shown that humans can inflict devastating harm to the natural environment, including during the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, the Preamble makes no direct reference to the environment or environmental harm. Nonetheless, the Preamble’s notation of “present and future generations”,1161 provides an indirect basis for the Court to address serious environmental victimization.1162 Nonetheless, basing the Court’s interest in assisting the victims of environmental harm on the interests of human generations serves to reinforce the anthropocentric orientation of the Rome Statute.