367 Marina de Luengo Zarzoso The legal challenges posed by the responsibility to protect in the new security and defence landscape 3.1. Crimes against the international community in the Spanish Criminal Code War crimes are provided for in the Spanish Criminal Code of 199557 under the category “Crimes against persons or property protected in the event of armed conflict” (Articles 608 to 614); indeed, the regulation has been commended by other countries and has served as a model for regulating war crimes58. The regulation was recently amended pursuant to Organic Law 5/2010 to accommodate changes in international society and international legislation and to cater for new requirements and concepts, such as the responsibility to protect. The most important aspects of the regulation following these amendments are the following: The provision of non-applicability of statutory limitations to offences against persons or property protected in the event of armed conflict. Article 131.4 was amended to state that “statutes of limitations shall not apply under any circumstances to crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes against persons or property protected in the event of armed conflict, except those punished under Article 61459”. In the same vein, Article 133.2, regulating the limitation period for crimes, was amended, Without prejudice to the provisions of international treaties and conventions signed by Spain, if the Spanish courts are to judge the foregoing offences, it shall first have to be proven that the alleged perpetrators are in Spain or that there are Spanish victims, that Spain is linked in some way with the case or, in any event, that no other competent country or international court has commenced proceedings with a view to investigating and prosecuting the offences.” 57 Spain therefore fulfilled the obligation it undertook when it ratified the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977. The Conventions set out measures to protect people and property in the event of an armed conflict and prohibit a series of conducts in order to ensure this protection, highlighting war crimes as being the most serious and establishing the obligation that “the High Contracting Parties undertake to enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave breaches of the present Convention” (Article 49 GcI, Article 50 GCII, Article 130 GCIII, Article 146 GCIV, Article 86.1 API). Vid. Pignatelli y Meca, F., General Consejero Togado: “Los crímenes de guerra en la Ley Orgánica 5/2010, de 22 de junio, de modificación del Código Penal”, http://www.c ruzroja.es/dih/pdfs/ temas/3_1/3_1.pdf. 58 This regulation is regarded as a trailblazer and was worded according to the guidelines provided by the International Committee of the Red Cross on humanitarian law. Vid. RODRÍGUEZ- VILLASANTE Y PRIETO, J.L., “La modificación del Código Penal Español por Ley Orgánica 5/2010, en materia de crímenes de guerra. Un paradigma en la protección penal de las víctimas de guerra”, Revista Española de Derecho Militar, no. 95-96, enero-diciembre de 2010, pag. 151. 59 Article 614 deals with violations of International Humanitarian Law which are not defined as war crimes. Bear in mind that the Geneva Conventions only classify the more serious violations of humanitarian law as war crimes, and therefore not all violations.
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