The Diplomat
The Government has authorized the ratification of four amendments to Article 8.2 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to include the use of certain weapons and the intentional use of hunger as a method of warfare as war crimes.
The Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday the draft Organic Law authorizing the ratification of four amendments to Article 8.2 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which was adopted on July 17, 1998, ratified by Spain on October 24, 2000, and entered into force for Spain on July 1, 2002.
The four amendments are contained in two resolutions adopted by the Assembly of States Parties, which add new cases to the war crimes listed in Article 8.2.
Specifically, the amendments include the use in both international and domestic warfare of certain weapons (biological, non-localizable fragments, and blinding laser weapons) and the intentional use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, in this case in non-international conflicts.
“Spain’s ratification of these four amendments is consistent with the commitment our country has demonstrated to human rights and to the International Criminal Court since its creation, as a cornerstone of the universal criminal justice system that champions the fight against impunity for the most serious crimes committed against humanity,” the Council of Ministers added.