We are publishing the English translation of the statement by the Italian Association of Professors of Criminal Law (AIPDP), approved by the Executive Board on August 6, 2025, addressing violations of international criminal law in the Gaza Strip.

The original version of the statement, in Italian, is available on the online journal Sistema Penale.

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STATEMENT BY THE ITALIAN ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSORS OF CRIMINAL LAW ON VIOLATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW IN THE GAZA STRIP

The Italian Association of Professors of Criminal Law (AIPDP) joins its voice to those of other scientific associations, public and private institutions and authorities, both secular and religious, that are publicly denouncing the intolerable situation taking place in the Gaza Strip, which is escalating dramatically in these weeks.    

We are deeply disturbed, as law scholars and as criminal lawyers - trained in constitutional principles and in the inalienable values of life, human dignity, peace, and the repudiation of war and all forms of arbitrary violence - by the harrowing news and images that, also according to numerous reports by international organisations, bear witness to systematic violations of the fundamental rights of men, women and children by the Israeli government. Without prejudice to the need to see the facts and relative responsibilities ascertained by impartial bodies appointed for this purpose, we note that the extremely serious violations of international and humanitarian law referred to in the aforementioned reports constitute international crimes. In the words of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, "it is inhuman to reduce an entire population, from children to the elderly, to starvation" as well as, as numerous humanitarian organisations denounce, targeting health workers and defenceless civilians, targeting and killing children and people in search of water or food, and destroying hospitals and places of worship.

As jurists, we note that these atrocities are a tangible sign of a disturbing weakening of the rule of law and a worrying crisis in the effectiveness of international law and human rights, which - as Pope Leo XIV recalled - must instead be inextricably respected "as the foundation of the international order, even during armed conflicts".

As criminal law scholars, we also denounce with grave concern - with reference to what is happening also in contexts other than Gaza, such as the Russian-Ukrainian context - the crisis of effectiveness that globally affects international criminal law, to the development of which is linked not only the name of authoritative scholars of criminal law disciplines, including Giuliano Vassalli, Cherif Bassiouni and Giovanni Conso, but also that of our country, Italy, in which the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was signed. And yet, just as serious international crimes are being committed in Gaza, in the rest of the occupied Palestinian territory in the West Bank and in other warlike contexts, such as Ukraine, the ICC is the object of attacks, delegitimisation campaigns and attempts to hinder its investigative action. This is the court that has issued arrest warrants against Russian President Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And it is - let us not forget - the same court that has also issued arrest warrants against some Hamas leaders. Indeed, the ICC has already recognised the heinous and extreme severity of the criminal attack carried out in southern Israel by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups on 7 October 2023, with the killing of more than a thousand Israelis, civilians and military personnel, and the taking of hundreds of hostages (source UNHRC, 10.05.2024). We are convinced that defending the ICC means defending the principle that no perpetrator of international crimes, from whichever side they come and to whichever side they belong, can consider themselves above law and human rights. If the weakening of the rule of law and democratic societies, and the related crisis of international law, is not curbed at the global level the risk, as the Gaza incident clearly shows, is of a leap backwards in history and a marked retreat of the civilisation of law.

On the other hand, in a complex geopolitical, historical and cultural context - for decades and even more so today the scene of unresolved conflicts - the atrocious violence of 7 October 2023, in a tragic and perverse spiral, has called forth other atrocious violence, which, in turn, has also ended up by reviving execrable sentiments of anti-Semitism to which, as scholars of criminal law, we look with great concern, because at the root of some of the most tragic and repugnant pages of human history. Nonetheless, we remain firmly convinced that conflicts are never resolved through violence, but through dialogue and reconciliation, under the shield of law and its principles of civilisation, which must be strenuously defended and never abandoned to protect the intangible rights of any human being. 

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Having said this, the AIPDP, in strongly repudiating all forms of arbitrary violence and violations of international criminal law and humanitarian norms,

• welcomes the Joint Declaration of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of 25 countries of 21 July 2025 on Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, also signed by Italy, in which: (a) calls on the Israeli Government to immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently allow the United Nations and humanitarian NGOs to fully carry out their mission; (b) calls on all parties to protect civilians and to comply with their obligations under international humanitarian law; and (c) urges the international community to undertake a joint effort to end the conflict, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire; 
• hopes and urges the commitment of the Italian Government and Parliament, as well as that of all Member States, to strengthen the existing mechanisms of international criminal justice, defending the independence and mandate of the International Criminal Court;
• undertakes to promote through its members, in the various university venues, in conjunction with the beginning of the next academic year, moments of study, in-depth analysis and comparison, open to listening to and understanding the opposing arguments and the enhancement of international criminal law and justice, as well as transitional and restorative justice
• finally, communicates that, on the occasion of its own national conference scheduled for 24/25 October 2025 at the University of Palermo, dedicated to the more general phenomenon of violence increasingly widespread in society, a moment of reflection by the scientific community of criminalists will be devoted precisely to war violence and the prevention and repression of international crimes.

Rome, 6 August 2025

By the Board of Directors

Prof. Gian Luigi Gatta (President) 

Prof. Vincenzo Mongillo (Vice President) 

Prof. Gian Paolo Demuro 

Prof. Stefano Fiore 

Prof. Carlo Longobardo 

Prof. Domenico Notaro