Definition of the Crime of Aggression

1.A person commits the crime of aggression who, being in a position to exercise control over or direct the political or military action of a State, intentionally and knowingly orders or participates actively in the planning, preparation, initiation or waging of aggression committed by that State.

2. For the purposes of the exercise of jurisdiction by the Court over the crime of aggression under the Statute, aggression committed by a State means the use of armed force to attack the territorial integrity or political independence of another State in violation of the Charter of the United Nations.

Commentary

General approach

In the interests of clarity and precision, the definition seperates the concept of the crime of aggression, for which there is individual criminal responsibility, from the concept of aggression by a State. Article 5, paragraph 2, of the Rome Statute requires only that the crime of aggression be defined. However, because aggression by a State is a precondition to the prosecution of an individual for the crime, it is necessary to make clear in the Statute itself what type of action on the part of a State will trigger individual criminal responsibility and open the way to a prosecution in the International Criminal Court.