The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, can try genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Keystone
Thanks to a Swiss initiative, the International Criminal Court (ICC) will now be able to prosecute as a war crime the intentional starvation of civilians in civil wars.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch/jc
العربية
ar
تجويع المدنيين خلال الحروب الأهلية يصبح جريمة ضد الإنسانية
The ICC’s 122 member states unanimously approved a Swiss proposal to this effect at their annual meeting this week in The Hague. This will strengthen protection of victims of war, according to the Swiss foreign ministryExternal link.
“The majority of the over 800 million people who suffer from hunger every day live in conflict zones,” the ministry statement continues.
The International Criminal Court has a mandate to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Up until now, it could only prosecute intentional starvation of civilians as a war crime in an international armed conflict, but this has now been broadened to include non-international armed conflicts.
“The intentional starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a major problem in civil wars,” says the Swiss foreign ministry.
Examples that could be cited include Syria and Yemen. Neither of these countries are ICC member states, and the amendment is unlikely to have much impact in the immediate future.
However, as pointed out on the international law website Opinio JurisExternal link, “the amendment’s real utility would come in the context of Security Council referrals”. If the UN Security Council were to refer either Syria or Yemen to the ICC at some point in the future, for example (although this currently looks unlikely), it would make it possible for the OTP to prosecute starvation of civilians in those states.
More
More
Swiss Solidarity collects CHF3 million for Yemen
This content was published on
The Swiss public has expressed its solidarity for the victims of the war in Yemen, donating more than CHF3.1 million.
More people switching to generic medicine in Switzerland
This content was published on
Measures to encourage more people in Switzerland to use generic medicine in place of brand name originals appear to be working.
Nature magazine: scientific breakthroughs in medicine and space travel in 2025
This content was published on
The science magazine Nature expects breakthroughs in mind-reading machines, new weight-loss drugs, and particle physics in 2025.
This content was published on
Swiss minister Karin Keller-Sutter wants to use Platform X to communicate with the population during her term as president in 2025.
Swiss Post delivers record number of parcels in pre-Christmas period
This content was published on
Swiss Post delivered a total of 22.3 million parcels between the Black Friday promotional week at the end of November and Christmas.
SWISS plane in Graz: employee still in intensive care
This content was published on
The cabin crew member of the SWISS Airbus A220 which made an emergency landing in Graz, Austria, on Monday is still in intensive care.
Delegates fail to agree agenda for Syria constitution talks
This content was published on
The Syrian government and opposition co-chairs have been unable to reach consensus on the agenda of the constitution talks in Geneva.
Mechanism sends ‘strong signal to perpetrators of crimes in Syria’
This content was published on
More and more European countries, including Germany, France, Sweden and Austria, are prosecuting people for war crimes in Syria.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.