国际刑事法院说，它将开始集中审理与破坏环境、违法开采自然资源以及非法剥夺土地有关的犯罪。
这个设在海牙的由联合国支持的法院自2002年成立以来，审理的大多是有关种族灭绝和战争罪的案件。
国际刑事法院星期四说，政府和个人都可能因破坏环境和强占土地而以危害人类罪受到起诉。国际刑事法院的这一举措受到了土地维权人士的广泛称赞。
该法院得到多国政府资助，被看作是终审法院。它说，它现在将考虑受理一些一直以来起诉率偏低的案件。
过去10年，由于国家和地方政府把千万公顷土地分配給私人公司，强占土地的情况在全球各地日益普遍。
反腐活动组织“全球见证”说，这个局面导致众多强制拆迁，土著人文化灭绝，营养不良以及环境破坏的情况发生。
“全球见证”的哈里森对路透社说：国际刑事法院的举措意味着，它现在可以开始让企业老板为在和平时期所造成的大面积强占土地和人民大规模流离失所的情况承担责任了。
The International Criminal Court has said it will start to focus on crimes linked to environmental destruction, the illegal exploitation of natural resources and unlawful dispossession of land.
The United Nations-backed court, which sits in The Hague, has mostly ruled on cases of genocide and war crimes since it was set up in 2002.
Now, in a move widely hailed by land rights activists, the court said Thursday environmental destruction and landgrabs could lead to governments and individuals being prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
The court, which is funded by governments and is regarded as the court of last resort, said it would now take on crimes into consideration that have been traditionally under-prosecuted.
Land-grabbing has become increasingly common worldwide, with national and local governments allocating private companies tens of millions of hectares of land in the past 10 years.
The anti-corruption campaigners Global Witness say this has led to many forced evictions, the cultural genocide of indigenous peoples, malnutrition and environmental destruction.
"This shift means it can start holding corporate executives to account for large-scale land grabbing and massive displacement happening during peace time," Alice Harrison of Global Witness told Reuters.
