An analysis of the crime of aggression amendments adopted under the International Criminal Court's Statute in 2010.

The 2010 Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute empowered the International Criminal Court to prosecute the 'supreme crime' under international law: the crime of aggression. This landmark commentary provides the first analysis of the history, theory, legal interpretation and future of the crime of aggression. As well as explaining the positions of the main actors in the negotiations, the authoritative team of leading scholars and practitioners set out exactly how countries have themselves criminalized illegal war-making in domestic law and practice. In light of the anticipated activation of the Court's jurisdiction over this crime in 2017, this work offers, over two volumes, a comprehensive legal analysis of how to understand the material and mental elements of the crime of aggression as defined at Kampala. Alongside The Travaux Préparatoires of the Crime of Aggression (Cambridge, 2011), this commentary provides the definitive resource for anyone concerned with the illegal use of force.

A gripping behind-the-scenes account of the dramatic legal fight to hold leaders personally responsible for aggressive war On July 17, 2018, starting an unjust war became a prosecutable international crime alongside genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Instead of collective state responsibility, our leaders are now personally subject to indictment for crimes of aggression, from invasions and preemptions to drone strikes and cyberattacks. The Crime of Aggression is Noah Weisbord’s riveting insider’s account of the high-stakes legal fight to enact this historic legislation and hold politicians accountable for the wars they start. Weisbord, a key drafter of the law for the International Criminal Court, takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most consequential legal dramas in modern international diplomacy. Drawing on in-depth interviews and his own invaluable insights, he sheds critical light on the motivations of the prosecutors, diplomats, and military strategists who championed the fledgling prohibition on unjust war—and those who tried to sink it. He untangles the complex history behind the measure, tracing how the crime of aggression was born at the Nuremberg trials only to fall dormant during the Cold War, and he draws lessons from such pivotal events as the collapse of the League of Nations, the rise of the United Nations, September 11, and the war on terror. The power to try leaders for unjust war holds untold promise for the international order, but also great risk. In this incisive and vitally important book, Weisbord explains how judges in such cases can balance the imperatives of justice and peace, and how the fair prosecution of aggression can humanize modern statecraft.

Since after the Second World War, the crime of aggression is – along with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes – a “core crime” under international law. However, despite a formal recognition of aggression as a matter of international criminal law and the reinforcement of the international legal regulation of the use of force by States, numerous international armed conflicts occurred but no one was ever prosecuted for aggression since 1949. This book comprehensively analyses the historical development of the criminalisation of aggression, scrutinises in a detailed manner the relevant jurisprudence of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals as well as of the Nuremberg follow-up trials, and makes proposals for a more successful prosecution for aggression in the future. In identifying customary international law on the subject, the volume draws upon a wealth of applicable sources of national criminal law and puts forward a useful classification of States ́ legislative approaches towards the criminalisation of aggression at the national level. It also offers a detailed analysis of the current international legal regulation of the use of force and of the Rome Statute ́s substantive and procedural provisions pertaining to the exercise of the International Criminal Court ́s jurisdiction with respect to the crime of aggression, after 1 January 2017.

This book presents a selection of revised and updated papers presented in September 2018 at the International Conference ‘Rethinking the Crime of Aggression: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives’, which was held in Marburg, Germany, and hosted by the International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials (ICWC). In light of the activation of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court concerning the crime of aggression, international experts from various disciplines such as law, history, the social sciences, psychology and economics came together to enhance the understanding of this complex and challenging matter and thereby opened a cross-disciplinary dialogue regarding aggressive war and the crime of aggression: a dialogue that not only addresses the historical genesis of the current situation, the content of the new aggression provisions, their implementation in practice and their possible regulatory effects, but also instigates perspectives for investigating future developments and issues. Stefanie Bock is Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, International Criminal Law and Comparative Law in the Department of Law at the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany and Co-Director of the International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials. Eckart Conze is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History in the Department of History at the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany and Co-Director of the International Research and Documentation Centre for War Crimes Trials.

Explores the moral and legal implications of the criminality of aggressive war for the soldiers who fight, kill and are killed.

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court entered into force in 2002 and the ICC will soon be fully operational. Earlier in the ICC process, an international conference was held in Trento to address a specific issue that is still unresolved in the post-Rome negotiations: the crime of aggression. Article 5 of the ICC Statute includes aggression, yet the Statute postpones the exercise of its jurisdiction over the crime of aggression until such time as further provisions have been prepared on the definition of this crime and on the related conditions for the Court's intervention. This important volume collects the papers given by the participants at the Trento Conference. The volume is divided into three parts: the historical background of the crime of aggression; the definition of the crime of aggression, in light of proposals in the Preparatory Commission; and various points of view on the relationship between the Court's competence in adjudicating cases of alleged crimes of aggression and the Security Council's competence.