How to Implement Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide in the Italian System

The chapter addresses the most problematic aspects of the implementation of crimes against humanity and genocide into the Italian legislation. The domestic adoption of provisions on crimes against humanity proves in fact to be crucial in light of their limited overlap with ordinary offences, especially in consideration of the absence of the contextual element in the traditional structure of crimes. The application of ordinary criminal law is unsatisfactory also in regard to conducts listed under Article 7 of the Rome Statute (and corresponding Article 2 ICL Draft Convention), as the analysis of recent proceedings initiated and conducted by Italian judicial authorities on crimes committed against migrants in Libya demonstrates. As far as genocide is concerned, Law no 962/1967 proves to be largely outdated and does not fully reflect the international discipline of the crime, for instance regarding the definition of protected groups. The chapter aims, therefore, to suggest solutions for the adoption of a comprehensive legislation overcoming gaps and shortcomings in the incrimination of such conducts.