Introduction

1. The Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court held three meetings on 30 November and 1 December 2005. Ambassador Christian Wenaweser served as Chairperson of the Special Working Group.

2. The Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties provided the substantive servicing for the Group.

3. The Special Working Group had before it the outcome of an informal intersessional meeting held in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, from 13 to 15 June 2005 contained in document ICC-ASP/4/SWGCA/INF.1. At the first meeting of the Group, the Chairperson presented an overview of the report of the intersessional meeting. In doing so, he expressed his regret that the delegation of Cuba had again, despite representations both by himself and by the President of the Assembly, been denied a travel permit by the host State and had therefore been unable to attend the informal intersessional meeting in Princeton. The Chairperson pointed out that the intersessional had again been held in English only, as had the intersessional meetings held in Syracuse, Sicily, in preparation for the Rome Conference. He expressed his willingness to arrange for translation services, if delegations had a very strong preference in this respect, but also made it clear that such arrangements would lead to a huge increase in the total costs of the meetings and that it would be difficult to secure the relevant funding. He requested the Special Working Group to adopt the report and use it as the basis for future discussions on the crime of aggression. […]