Prosecuting Aggression

Authors

Noah Weisbord, Duke Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Keywords

International Criminal Court, Rome Statute, aggression

Abstract

The Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court will soon have its first opportunity to revise the Rome Statute and activate the latent crime of aggression, which awaits a definition of its elements and conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction. The working group charged with drafting a provision is scheduled to complete its task by 2008 or 2009, one year before the International Criminal Court’s first review conference. Beginning with a history of the crime meant to put the current negotiations in the context of past initiatives, this article sets out the status of the negotiations and begins to forecast prosecutorial challenges created by alternative formulations. It concludes by identifying the main prosecutorial challenges common to all formulations to see how a case against a political or military leader for the crime of aggression will look.

Citation

Noah Weisbord, Prosecuting Aggression, 49 Harvard International Law Journal 161-220 (2008)