Italy’s Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Its Amendments: Unresolved Issues

The present article investigates whether the international crimes listed in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and its amendments are punished under Italian law and, if not, what changes to domestic law are necessary so that perpetrators can be prosecuted before the Italian courts. To this end, firstly, it recalls Italy’s efforts to enact ad hoc legislation implementing the Statute. Secondly, it scrutinizes the existing Italian legislation on international crimes and identifies gaps and inconsistencies with the Statute. Finally, it considers the recent Government’s initiative for adopting a code of international crimes. The author finds that the Italian legislation does not provide a proper legal basis for the prosecution of most of the aforementioned international crimes and advocates a major legislative effort to make all of them prosecutable before the domestic courts.