ICC amendment text

(Another in IntLawGrrls' series of posts on the Kampala Conference)

The International Criminal Court has posted the official text of aggression amendments (French version here) to the 1998 Rome Statute that the Assembly of States Parties adopted by consensus in the final hour of the Review Conference that ended this weekend in Kampala, Uganda.

Contents

Contained in "Annex I - Amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on the Crime of Aggression," are:

► Addition of Article 8 bis, "Crime of aggression," containing the definition set forth at the bottom of this post;

► Addition of Article 15 bis, "Exercise of jurisdiction over the crime of aggression (State referral, proprio motu)";

► Addition of Article 15 ter, "Exercise of jurisdiction over the crime of aggression (Security Council referral)"; and

► Sundry amendments to other articles necessitated by these changes.

Also in this document are:

► "Annex II: Amendments to the Elements of Crimes," which further defines Article 8 bis, "Crime of aggression"; and

► "Annex III: Understandings regarding the amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on the Crime of Aggression," containing subtitles "Referrals by the Security Council," "Jurisdiction ratione temporis," "Domestic jurisdiction over the crime of aggression," and "Other understandings."

Definition

If ratified according to procedures set forth in the amendments, Article 8 bis will constitute this definition of the crime of aggression (further elaborated, as noted above, in the amendments to the Elements of Crimes):

1. For the purpose of this Statute, “crime of aggression” 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 manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.
2. For the purpose of paragraph 1, “act of aggression” means the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations. Any of the following acts, regardless of a declaration of war, shall, in accordance with United Nations General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) of 14 December 1974, qualify as an act of aggression:
a) The invasion or attack by the armed forces of a State of the territory of another State, or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack, or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another State or part thereof;
b) Bombardment by the armed forces of a State against the territory of another State or the use of any weapons by a State against the territory of another State;
c) The blockade of the ports or coasts of a State by the armed forces of another State;

d) An attack by the armed forces of a State on the land, sea or air forces, or marine and air fleets of another State;
e) The use of armed forces of one State which are within the territory of another State with the agreement of the receiving State, in contravention of the conditions provided for in the agreement or any extension of their presence in such territory beyond the termination of the agreement;
f) The action of a State in allowing its territory, which it has placed at the disposal of another State, to be used by that other State for perpetrating an act of aggression against a third State;
g) The sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein.