The Missing Piece Defining the Crime of Aggression
(2007)Department of Law
- Abstract
- The historical development of responsibility for wars and aggressive acts has seen a shift of focus during the last century. Where the attention was previously focused on the unlawfulness of a State act (the Act of Aggression), the attention is now on the involvement and responsibility of individuals. The topic of this thesis is to follow the development of the possibility to hold those behind State acts of aggression individually responsible for the Crime of Aggression. The history of aggression goes a long way back and the concept of wrongful wars is possible to trace back to ancient Greek and Roman times. Beginning with the ancient history of aggressive acts and wars, and following the development to contemporary times, this thesis... (More)
- The historical development of responsibility for wars and aggressive acts has seen a shift of focus during the last century. Where the attention was previously focused on the unlawfulness of a State act (the Act of Aggression), the attention is now on the involvement and responsibility of individuals. The topic of this thesis is to follow the development of the possibility to hold those behind State acts of aggression individually responsible for the Crime of Aggression. The history of aggression goes a long way back and the concept of wrongful wars is possible to trace back to ancient Greek and Roman times. Beginning with the ancient history of aggressive acts and wars, and following the development to contemporary times, this thesis offers a background to understand the concept of the Crime of Aggression in the modern world. The International Criminal Court was created in 1998. An enormous and time-consuming amount of work had led to a product that was above expectations. Doubts had been expressed about the possibility to reach unification and the results of the negotiations were welcome surprises. However, the International Criminal Court's creation was possible because one of the most controversial issues, the Crime of Aggression, was not fully dealt with. Article 5 of the Rome Statute includes jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression as well as over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Crime of Aggression has unlike the other crimes, not been linked to a definition. Until a definition exists, there is no possibility for the Court to exercise the jurisdiction that has been vested in it. This thesis assesses and concludes the work conducted in order to find a definition. The Crime of Aggression presupposes that an Act of Aggression has occurred. By far the most controversial question connected to this issue is the role of the Security Council, which claims a right, based on Article 39 of the UN Charter, to determine if an Act of Aggression has occurred. One must recognize that the Security Council has primary responsibility in this situation. However, this thesis argues that this responsibility is certainly not exclusive and that it does not apply to legal proceedings, the Security Council's responsibility touches upon a different area of competence than the one that is vested in the International Criminal Court. A discussion about the Security Council's role vis-à-vis the International Criminal Court's role accordingly occupies a large part of the thesis. The essay concludes that by far the most important question is to achieve jurisdiction for the International Criminal Court over the Crime of Aggression, and in order to do this concessions will have to be made. The Court is itself a product of negotiations and so will the definition be. Despite the rather firm holdings that are presented in this thesis, the author realizes and argues that politics and law are inseparable. Therefore, what legal experts might find the most appropriate solution might never be possible to achieve. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1557034
- author
- Egerlund, Maria
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2007
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Folkrätt
- language
- English
- id
- 1557034
- date added to LUP
- 2010-03-08 15:55:20
- date last changed
- 2010-03-08 15:55:20
@misc{1557034,
abstract = {{The historical development of responsibility for wars and aggressive acts has seen a shift of focus during the last century. Where the attention was previously focused on the unlawfulness of a State act (the Act of Aggression), the attention is now on the involvement and responsibility of individuals. The topic of this thesis is to follow the development of the possibility to hold those behind State acts of aggression individually responsible for the Crime of Aggression. The history of aggression goes a long way back and the concept of wrongful wars is possible to trace back to ancient Greek and Roman times. Beginning with the ancient history of aggressive acts and wars, and following the development to contemporary times, this thesis offers a background to understand the concept of the Crime of Aggression in the modern world. The International Criminal Court was created in 1998. An enormous and time-consuming amount of work had led to a product that was above expectations. Doubts had been expressed about the possibility to reach unification and the results of the negotiations were welcome surprises. However, the International Criminal Court's creation was possible because one of the most controversial issues, the Crime of Aggression, was not fully dealt with. Article 5 of the Rome Statute includes jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression as well as over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Crime of Aggression has unlike the other crimes, not been linked to a definition. Until a definition exists, there is no possibility for the Court to exercise the jurisdiction that has been vested in it. This thesis assesses and concludes the work conducted in order to find a definition. The Crime of Aggression presupposes that an Act of Aggression has occurred. By far the most controversial question connected to this issue is the role of the Security Council, which claims a right, based on Article 39 of the UN Charter, to determine if an Act of Aggression has occurred. One must recognize that the Security Council has primary responsibility in this situation. However, this thesis argues that this responsibility is certainly not exclusive and that it does not apply to legal proceedings, the Security Council's responsibility touches upon a different area of competence than the one that is vested in the International Criminal Court. A discussion about the Security Council's role vis-à-vis the International Criminal Court's role accordingly occupies a large part of the thesis. The essay concludes that by far the most important question is to achieve jurisdiction for the International Criminal Court over the Crime of Aggression, and in order to do this concessions will have to be made. The Court is itself a product of negotiations and so will the definition be. Despite the rather firm holdings that are presented in this thesis, the author realizes and argues that politics and law are inseparable. Therefore, what legal experts might find the most appropriate solution might never be possible to achieve.}},
author = {{Egerlund, Maria}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{The Missing Piece Defining the Crime of Aggression}},
year = {{2007}},
}