Swiss Coalition for the ICC submits its position on Rome Statute amendments

On behalf of the Swiss Coalition for the International Criminal Court (SCICC), TRIAL transmitted today to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) its position on the ratification and implementation of the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute of the ICC

In June 2010, the Kampala review conference approved two amendments to the Rome Statute of the ICC. These amendments give jurisdiction to the ICC for the crime of aggression and expend the notion of war crimes by prohibiting the use of poison or poisoned weapons, gas and similar substances in non-international armed conflicts.

In June 2013, the Swiss Federal Council presented a ratification bill for the amendments to the Rome Statute of the ICC and opened a national consultation process on the subject.

In its position (in French only) submitted today to the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the SCICC welcomes the position of the Federal Council recommending the Federal Assembly to approve the ratification of the amendments adopted in Kampala.

For an effective prosecution of those responsible for the crime of aggression.

The SCICC, however, regrets that the Federal Council ignores the necessity to transpose the crime of aggression into the Swiss criminal code. In so doing, it misses an important opportunity to strengthen the legal arsenal available to national authorities in the context of the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes in international law.

A swift introduction of the crime of aggression into national law is absolutely necessary in order to set up the necessary legal framework to institute criminal proceedings against perpetrators of the crime of aggression who find themselves on Swiss territory and, consequently, to avoid any violation of the principle of complementarity embedded in the Rome Statute.

A thorough and advanced legislation in this field would enable Switzerland not to become a safe haven for those responsible of the crime of aggression and avoid that the crimes committed on Swiss territory or by Swiss nationals are judged by the ICC.

The SCICC calls upon relevant authorities to ratify the Kampala amendments and to incorporate the crime of aggression in the Swiss legal order.