Reaching the Kampala compromise on aggression: The chair's perspective

Leiden Journal of International Law

Volumn 23, Issue 4, 2010, Pages 883-887

  Wenaweser, Christian ^a  

^a NONE   (Liechtenstein)

Author keywords

aggression; consensus; International Criminal Court; Review Conference; Security Council

Indexed keywords

EID: 79956316663     PISSN: 09221565     EISSN: 14789698     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0922156510000439     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. TheWorking Group on the Crime of Aggression in the framework of the Assembly of States Parties and at the Kampala Conference was chaired by HRH Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al Hussein (Jordan), while I had chaired the work of the Special Working Group. Stefan Barriga, deputy permanent representative and legal adviser at the Liechtenstein Mission in New York, played a crucial role in assisting the work in both groups. All the texts circulated in Kampala were consulted by this inner circle, with informal input frommany others.
2. Report of the SpecialWorking Group on the Crime of Aggression, February 2009, ICC-ASP/7/20/Add.1.
3. In discussions held in particular in Glen Cove and inMexico City, in February and April 2010.
4. It is important to note, though, that some delegations at theKampala conference consistently objected to the formula 'definition only' as an outcome, sometimes even arguing that it would beworse than a problematic full package on the issue.
5. The 'not now' argument, as we started calling it, whichwas advanced by persons of very different affiliation.
6. 9 June 2010.
7. Presented to the plenary in the morning of 10 June.
8. Thiswas also reflected in the newpreambular paragraph 1 of the enabling resolution, whichmakes reference to Art. 12(1) of the Rome Statute.
9. The 'green light option' for the Security Council filter, and an option that would involve thewhole Pre-Trial Division rather than just a Pre-Trial Chamber.
10. The final version of the Understandings no longer contained language on a 'positive' or 'negative' understanding of Art. 121(5), as this issue was addressed in the opt-out regime introduced in the text.
11. 10 June, 11 p.m.
12. We reintroduced the green light option to the Security Council filter and combined the red light option with the Pre-Trial Division, for balance.
13. I.e. alternative 2 in the previous non-paper of the president.
14. We used the term 'delayed entry into force' in the non-paper, although it would have been more correct to use the term 'delayed activation', which was in essence what the discussed proposals sought to achieve.
15. In the absence of an agreement in Kampala, the next session of the Assembly of States Parties could have been seized with the issue.