International Criminal Court 10 years in, Italy still in default

On the occasion of the anniversary of the Treaty establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) and the Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (NRPTT) are organising a panel discussion to be held on Tuesday, July 17, from 14:00 to 16:00 at the Nasiriyah room of the Italian Senate.

Participants to the meeting, which will be opened by Emma Bonino, Vice-President of the Italian Senate, will include members of the Italian Senate and Chamber of Deputies, as well as Silvana Arbia, Registrar of the ICC and Cuno Tarfusser Jacob, judge of the ICC.

The meeting will also be an opportunity, not only to celebrate a historical date for international criminal justice, but above all to report on the status of a bill, which is currently blocked by the Senate Judiciary Committee, that would adapt the Italian legislation to the Rome Statute.

The bill was presented in the Chamber of Deputies three years ago, in May of 2009, and has been locked in an endless back and forth between the two houses of parliament. We now believe that the Italian government, having no further excuses nor justifications, must rectify he matter without
further delay.

It has been 14 years since the Diplomatic Conference held in Rome established the International Criminal Court, and it took 10 years to obtain the necessary ratifications for the ICC to enter into force.

Italy is one of the countries that invested the most in diplomatic efforts to make all of this possible. It was one of the first countries to ratify the Rome Statute but, to date, it has not yet ratified its own legal system. This remarkable delay prevents Italian national courts and authorities from cooperating with the Court in its investigative and judicial activities, and it puts Italy in a situation of flagrant breach, vis-à-vis international obligations, thereby making the country a potential haven for perpetrators of the most heinous crimes against humanity.

For instance, should current Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, for whom the Court has issued an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, find himself on our national territory, Italian courts would have no legal instrument for issuing an arrest. Italy’s complicity to make impunity prevail over justice would thus be undeniable.