Roma Tre Law Review – 01/2025

Protecting human dignity through criminal law: from modern slavery to freedom through justice

This paper explores the evolving challenges of human trafficking and the critical role of criminal law in safeguarding human dignity. It highlights the increasing complexity of human trafficking, driven by global crises and digital exploitation, and underscores the need for enhanced judicial responses. The study advocates for a human rights-based approach to international judicial cooperation, emphasizing the cross-fertilization between the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Palermo Protocol. It examines recent Italian Supreme Court case law affirming the principle of non-punishment for trafficking victims, particularly through the lens of state of necessity. Furthermore, the paper discusses the social reuse of confiscated assets as a tool for inclusion and resilience against organized crime, showcasing innovative practices in Italy and across the EU.

Human dignity in armed conflict: perspectives from international criminal law and italian military law

The paper examines human dignity as a foundational principle in the legal system, focusing on international criminal law and military justice. After highlighting its centrality in the Italian Constitution and supranational instruments (Rome Statute, EU Charter), the analysis criticizes the 1941 Italian Wartime Code, deemed not fully aligned with the Rome Statute on crimes against humanity.
The document mentions the stalled Proposed Code of International Crimes, which included cultural genocide. Finally, it examines Bill No. 1135/2024 to introduce the crime of sexual violence in armed conflict (universal jurisdiction) into the Italian Criminal Code, proposing amendments such as gender-neutral language and a separate offense for the failure of superiors to prevent such crimes.
These legislative initiatives are viewed as a significant step towards a more complete protection of human dignity.

The duty to prosecute violations of human dignity: a criminal law perspective

The author underlines that the system of fundamental rights protection rise to obligations to criminalize certain behaviours. We have to observe that obligations to criminalize are not self-executing: the existence of treaty-based obligations to criminalize conduct lacks direct effectiveness in terms of legislative implementation.
The framework outlined above changes once the legislature has already intervened to implement, within the domestic criminal system, the obligation to prosecute certain conduct established at the conventional (international) level. First of all, the adopted legislation gives rise to an obligation of consistent interpretation. A second significant issue arises once the national legislature has implemented an international obligation to criminalize; according to the case law of the Constitutional Court the legislature can no longer arbitrarily repeal the criminal provisions introduced.

The implementation of the mortgage credit directive in Italy: some problematic issues

This article critically examines the implementation of Directive 2014/17/EU (Mortgage Credit Directive, MCD) in Italy, highlighting key legal and regulatory challenges. Transposed via Legislative Decree No. 72/2016 and integrated into the Italian Banking Law (TUB), the MCD aimed to harmonize credit practices and enhance consumer protection. The study explores five core areas: pre-contractual information duties, creditworthiness assessment, foreign currency mortgage loans, early repayment rights, and the evolving impact of artificial intelligence on credit scoring. It reveals tensions between EU consumer protection goals and Italy’s traditional private law framework, particularly regarding remedies for breaches of information and assessment duties. The article also discusses the influence of landmark ECJ rulings, such as ‘Lexitor’ and ‘Bank Millenium’, and anticipates future regulatory shifts driven by AI and digitalization. Ultimately, it calls for a more integrated approach to consumer credit regulation that aligns national legal traditions with evolving European standards.

SOLVIT and the Ongoing Strategy of Internal Market Integration and Governance

The paper aims to focus on the activity of the SOLVIT network after more than 20 years from its establishment as a mechanism for the informal resolution of disputes between citizens (or businesses) and national public administrations which allegedly acted in breach of EU law. In this respect the Commission after having constantly stressed that the system has lived up to expectations and has been considered effective in providing remedy for internal market problems, it also commits towards identifying its weaknesses and working to improve its services as is clearly shown by the more recent documents on the network.

Fair remuneration and collective representation of solo-entrepreneurs in the council of Europe

Solo-entrepreneurs’ are self-employed workers who provide their personal labour to earn a livelihood but do not have an employment relationship or employees. Their work is often carried out under flexible arrangements which exhibits precarious features, prompting the need for the study of their protection in the Council of Europe. This paper focuses on their rights to fair remuneration and collective representation under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Social Charter (ESC). The paper discusses the scope for protection of solo-entrepreneurs through the right to fair remuneration under the ESC and the right to collective representation under both treaties. Based on the interpretation of these two treaties and the relevant case law, the paper concludes that solo-entrepreneurs fall into the same category as workers under both instruments and are covered by the material and personal scope of those rights.

Italian criminal history between judgement and narrative

French administrative law seminars at Roma tre law school