ICC to try crime of aggression cases

The Assembly of State Parties of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), have adopted a new crime dubbed ‘crime of aggression’ that will form part of the crimes to adjudicate upon.

What you need to know:

  • At the Kampala 2010 Review Conference, the state parties, agreed by consensus to adopt resolutions by accepting the amendments to the statute, adding the definition of the crime and the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction over this crime.

KAMPALA. The Assembly of State Parties of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), have adopted a new crime dubbed ‘crime of aggression’ that will form part of the crimes to adjudicate upon.
The crime of aggression is a crime under the Rome Statute of the ICC which now becomes the fourth grave crime that will now be slapped against suspects before the Hague-based court.
The other grave crimes that the court handles are genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The crime
Crime of aggregation means the planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a violation of the Charter of the United Nations.

“...the crime of aggression, also known as the Kampala amendment, has been adopted by the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome statute. It becomes a fourth crime in addition to genocide , war crimes and crimes against humanity punishable under international criminal law,” Uganda’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Amb Adonia Ayebare, posted on Thursday.
“History is being made before our eyes. From Nuremberg to Rome, Kampala and the New York,” Amb Ayebare added the crime of aggression was adopted by consensus at the 2010 Kampala Review Conference by the participants.

Procedure
But prior to the 2010 Kampala Review Conference, in 1998, at the Rome Conference that adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the crime of aggression was included as one of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the court (Article 5.1).
However, participants to the Rome Conference could not agree on the definition of the crime nor on further conditions for the court’s exercise of jurisdiction.

The Statute did not allow the court to exercise such jurisdiction until these outstanding issues were solved (Article 5.2).
At the Kampala 2010 Review Conference, the state parties, agreed by consensus to adopt resolutions by accepting the amendments to the statute, adding the definition of the crime and the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction over this crime.
So it is at the ongoing 16th Session of Assembly of State Parties in the New York, United States of America that the participants finally adopted the crime of aggression as one of the crimes that the court will adjudicate upon.