Part IV The ICC and its Applicable Law, 31 The Crime of Aggression

Subject(s):

Aggression — Individual criminal responsibility — War crimes — Crimes against humanity — UN Charter — Act of state doctrine

The crime of aggression was included, in principle, within the jurisdiction of the ICC by the Rome Statute of 1998. Making that jurisdiction operational was, however, left to the First Review Conference on the Court, which took place in Kampala in 2010. This chapter discusses the details of the Kampala Amendments to the Rome Statute, including the Elements of Crime of aggression. It analyses efforts to obtain sufficient ratifications of the amendments to bring them into force, as well as the implementation of aggression in domestic legislation. It argues that a State ratifying the Kampala Amendments should domesticate Article 8bis and its Elements as closely as possible by penal legislation, and award at least jurisdiction over conduct of its own nationals.