Montevideo/The Hague

On 10 April 2013, the Chamber of Deputies of Uruguay unanimously approved the bill on the ratification of the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). These Amendments were adopted in 2010 by the States Parties that met in Kampala, Uganda at the first Review Conference of the Rome Statute.

Upon adoption by the Senate of Uruguay of the same bill in the coming weeks, Uruguay will become the first Latin American country to ratify the Kampala Amendments. Thirty ratifications are needed before 2017 to meet one of the conditions to activate the Amendments related to the crime of aggression.

Five nations, all renowned for their commitment to the rule of law and international peace and security, have ratified the Kampala Amendments: Liechtenstein, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Luxembourg and Estonia. Germany and Botswana have completed their domestic processes and are expected to deposit their ratification instruments in the coming weeks.

In Uruguay, the Kampala bill was adopted without discussion by the plenary. On 20 March 2013, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies had receive the report from Diputado Martínez Huelmo (Frente Amplio) requesting the Committee to reaffirm Uruguay’s Constitutional principle of foreign policy to seek the peaceful resolution of controversies. In light of this principle, the Kampala Amendments are aligned with the requirement of “firm adherence, defense and respect of international law.”

Speaking on behalf of Partido Nacional, Diputado Jaime Trobo expressed his support for the Kampala Amendments recalling the participation of a delegation from Uruguay to PGA’s Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians to the ICC and the Rule of Law, held in the Parliament of Italy, in December 2012.

On the day of the unanimous approval by the Chamber of Deputies, Dip. Felipe Michelini, Convenor of PGA´s International Law and Human Rights Program, reiterated from The Hague what he had declared during the Committee debate:

Since the ratification of Uruguay of the London Agreement containing the Nuremberg Tribunal Statute in 1945, until today, passing through the work of Diputado Félix Laviña in 2002 to ratify the Rome Statute, and through the adoption of the ICC Domestic Implementation Bill (Act  Nº 18.026), the agreement of all political parties and all branches of Government have place Uruguay at the forefront peace-abiding nations in international relations through the affirmation of the UN Charter’s principle prohibiting the illegal use of force.

In order to implement the call made during the treatment of this bill by Diputada María Elena Laurnaga on the need to ensure that parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee engages in in-depth discussions on these issues, PGA will organize with the Chamber of Deputies of Uruguay, in July 2013, a Parliamentary Seminar to reflect on the impact and role of South America in the system of the ICC.