Crime of aggression

A crime of aggression is a specific type of crime where a person plans, initiates, or executes an act of aggression using state military force that violates the Charter of the United Nations. The act is judged as a violation based on its character, gravity, and scale.At the Review Conference, States Parties expressed their resolve to “activate the Court’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression as early as possible.” In order to ensure the necessary 30 ratifications by States Parties until the end of 2016, which are necessary to activate the jurisdiction, Liechtenstein will actively promote ratification of the amendments in collaboration with the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression. The project will feature workshops, resource materials and a future website on the ratification and implementation of the Kampala amendments on the crime of aggression....it is with a heavy heart that I declare that, if all the other delegations are prepared to support the proposed draft resolution as it stands, Japan will not stand in the way of a consensus.As the head of my Delegation, appointed to represent Japan in this Review Conference, it is my duty to register, at this juncture, that the future cooperation of Japan with the ICC will hinge upon whether the ASP (Assembly of States Parties) can deliver on this with your cooperation.The United States considered the definition of aggression flawed, but a number of important safeguards were adopted. Understandings were adopted to make the definition more precise, to ensure that the crime will be applied only to the most egregious circumstances. And while we think the final resolution took insufficient account of the Security Council’s assigned role to define aggression, the states parties rejected solutions that provided for jurisdiction without a Security Council or consent-based screen. We hope that crime will be improved in the future and will continue to engage toward that end. A crime of aggression is a specific type of crime where a person plans, initiates, or executes an act of aggression using state military force that violates the Charter of the United Nations. The act is judged as a violation based on its character, gravity, and scale. Acts of aggression include invasion, military occupation, annexation by the use of force, bombardment, and military blockade of ports. The crime of aggression is a crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The definitions and the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction over this crime were adopted by consensus at the 2010 Kampala Review Conference by the States Parties to the Court. In 1998, at the Rome Conference that adopted the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ('the Statute'), the crime was included as one of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court (Article 5.1) and over which any State that becomes party to the Statute accepts the Court's jurisdiction (Article 12.1). 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 2010 Review Conference ('the Conference'), States Parties agreed by consensus to adopt resolution RC/Res.6 accepting the amendments to the Statute adding the definition of the crime and the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction over this crime.