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War of aggression

A war of aggression, sometimes also war of conquest, is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense, usually for territorial gain and subjugation, in contrast with the concept of a just war.

This article is about the type of military conflict. For the metal album, see War of Aggression (album).

Wars without international legality (i.e. not out of self-defense nor sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council) can be considered wars of aggression; however, this alone usually does not constitute the definition of a war of aggression; certain wars may be unlawful but not aggressive (a war to settle a boundary dispute where the initiator has a reasonable claim, and limited aims, is one example).


In the judgment of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, which followed World War II, "War is essentially an evil thing. Its consequences are not confined to the belligerent states alone, but affect the whole world. To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."[1][2]


Article 39 of the United Nations Charter provides that the UN Security Council shall determine the existence of any act of aggression and "shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security".


The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court refers to the crime of aggression as one of the "most serious crimes of concern to the international community", and provides that the crime falls within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). However, the Rome Statute stipulates that the ICC may not exercise its jurisdiction over the crime of aggression until such time as the states parties agree on a definition of the crime and set out the conditions under which it may be prosecuted. At the Kampala Review Conference on 11 June 2010, a total of 111 State Parties to the Court agreed by consensus to adopt a resolution accepting the definition of the crime and the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction over this crime.[3] The relevant amendments to the Statute entered into force on July 17, 2018 after being ratified by 35 States Parties.[4]


Possibly the first trial for waging aggressive war is that of the Sicilian king Conradin in 1268.[5]

Declaration of war upon another State.

Invasion by its armed forces, with or without a declaration of war, of the territory of another State.

Attack by its land, naval or air forces, with or without a declaration of war, on the territory, vessels or aircraft of another State.

Naval blockade of the coasts or ports of another State.

Provision of support to armed bands formed in its territory which have invaded the territory of another State, or refusal, notwithstanding the request of the invaded State, to take, in its own territory, all the measures in its power to deprive those bands of all assistance or protection.

Right of conquest

Command responsibility

Crime against peace

Peremptory norm

International criminal law

International law

Invasion

Jus ad bellum

List of war crimes

Nuremberg principles

Preventive war

Voluntary war

War crime

War of liberation

The Emerging System of International Criminal Law: Developments in Codification and Implementation, Kluwer (1997) 508 p.

Lyal S. Sunga

Individual Responsibility in International Law for Serious Human Rights Violations, Nijhoff (1992) 252 p.

Lyal S. Sunga

H. K. Thompson, Jr. and Henry Strutz, Dönitz at Nuremberg: A Reappraisal, Torrance, Calif.: 1983.

J. Hogan-Doran and B. van Ginkel, "Aggression as a Crime under International Law and the Prosecution of Individuals by the Proposed International Criminal Court" Netherlands International Law Review, Volume 43, Issue 3, December 1996, pp. 321–351, T.M.C. Asser Press 1996.

List of reference documents (alphabetical by author):

Dinstein, Yoram. , Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law

Aggression

to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on the crime of aggression

Amendments

Stefano Pietropaoli, Defining evil. The war of aggression and international law

From Nuremberg to Kampala – Reflections on the Crime of Aggression, Address by Judge Dr. jur. h. c. Hans-Peter Kaul of the ICC at the 4th International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, 2010

(UN publication)

Historical Review of Developments relating to Aggression, 2003