Changing war crimes prosecutions

PA 118/2010 The International Criminal Court (ICC) will make history next week when its supporting States meet in Uganda to consider adding a new crime to the range of offences it can currently prosecute. The University's International Criminal Justice Unit, Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) is one of only eight outsourcing partners of the ICC, and the only UK partner. It will be represented by Dr Olympia Bekou. During the ICC review in Kampala, the Court will consider adding the crime of aggression to its jurisdiction, enabling the Court to prosecute individuals for waging war against other States. The proposal defines aggression as: "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. Despite the Nuremberg trials after World War II, the crime of aggression has failed to make it into the statute books, leading experts to highlight the historic nature of this review. But the idea of this new crime is not without controversy, particularly in the US —currently not a member of the ICC — where some experts feel the new crime would pose a threat to America's ability to defend itself.