Chapter

The first amendment to the Rome Statute : bringing article 8 of the Rome Statute in line with international humanitarian law

Eve La Haye and Anne-Marie La Rosa

From Rome to Kampala : the first 2 amendments to the Rome Statute

Bruxelles : Bruylant, 2012

p. 67-146

English

The first amendment adopted in Kampala expands the International Criminal Court's existing jurisdiction over war crimes in international armed conflict to non-international armed conflict, by including the following crimes: employing poison or poisoned weapons; employing asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials and devices; and employing bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body. The adoption of such an amendment initiated a movement towards a greater protection for civilians as well as combatants in non-international armed conflict. The amendment also brought article 8 of the Rome Statute more in line with the content of customary international humanitarian law. This chapter briefly recalls the history behind the weapons amendment. The authors examines the conditions to be fulfilled for a crime to be included in Article 8 of the Statute and study the elements of the crimes covered by the weapons amendment in order to determine more clearly their scope of application. Finally the entry into force of the amendment is tackled.

• From Rome to Kampala : the first 2 amendments to the Rome Statute / ed. by Gérard Dive, Benjamin Goes, Damien Vandermeersch