On 31 May 2022, the Italian International Crimes Commission submitted a draft Code of International Crimes and an accompanying Commentary to the Italian Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabia. Established by the Italian Ministry of Justice in March of this year, the International Crimes Commission was tasked with examining various initiatives for the complete implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court in the Italian domestic legal order and proposing a pathway forward. To view the Commentary on the draft Code, released on 20 June 2022, see here.

While the Commission decided not to deviate from the text of the Rome Statute in describing the nature of individual war crimes, significantly, the draft Code foregoes the Rome Statute’s distinction between war crimes occurring in international armed conflicts (IACs) and non-international armed conflicts (NIACs). Thus the draft Code prohibits war crimes regardless of conflict designation. The Commentary explains that this choice expands the scope of certain war crimes which, under the Rome Statute, are only criminalised in IACs. By recognising that such conduct also amounts to a crime when committed in NIACs, the draft Code addresses this lacuna by ensuring that the protections offered by implementing legislation extend to victims of war crimes equally in all armed conflict situations.

The Commentary further highlights that the war crime of intentional starvation of civilians is amongst those criminalised regardless of conflict classification. GRC welcomes Italy’s initiative in ensuring complete integration of the Rome Statute into domestic law, and congratulates the International Crimes Commission on this milestone in moving towards stronger protections for civilians in all armed conflicts.

Since 2017, GRC has been engaged in promoting the ratification and domestication of the Starvation Amendment to the Rome Statute through the generous support of the Netherlands MFA. GRC also provided a range of support to Switzerland in its proposal to amend the Rome Statute to include the war crime of intentional starvation of civilians in NIACs and is currently engaged in the ‘Mobilising Ratification’ project, as supported by the Swiss FDFA, to achieve to ultimate goal of universal ratification of the starvation amendment.

Stay tuned for a dedicated Ratification Portal for the Starvation Amendment coming soon!

For more information on GRC’s starvation and ratification work, see www.starvationaccountability.org