The Foreign Ministry has welcomed the completion of the parliamentary process to authorise the ratification and implementation of important amendments to the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, broadening its scope of application. These amendments include three new cases added to the war crimes list, relating to the use of certain types of weapons in internal armed conflicts, define the scope of the crime of aggression, and lay down the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court.
With this act, Italy joins the states that have already ratified the Kampala amendments on war crimes and the crime of aggression (respectively 40 and 41, out of a total of 123 States party to the Rome Statute) that were adopted in Kampala at the Statute Review Conference in 2010.
Coming just a few weeks before the twentieth Assembly of States Parties (The Hague, 6-11 December 2021) the provision that the Italian Parliament has now adopted makes it possible to reaffirm and strengthen Italy’s historic and convinced commitment in support of the Court, as a central institution for the progressive affirmation of international criminal justice, the protection of victims of international crimes, and the fight against all forms of impunity of their perpetrators. This commitment is part of Italy’s foreign policy tradition, which sees respect for human rights, and their promotion, as an essential guideline for action.
