ICC Restrictions Regarding its Activation of Jurisdiction over Crime of Aggression

After more than 70 years since the last and so far the only prosecution of the crime of aggression in an international judicial body, the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over aggression was activated in 17 July 2018. It took nearly two decades since the ICC Statute adoption in 1998 for the states parties to agree on a definition of crime of aggression and a method to activate ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime. In the revision conference of 2010, the states parties reached an agreement regarding the definition of the crime and some jurisdictional matters. In spite of pressure from permanent members of the Security Council, the ICC jurisdiction was not subjected to prior approval of the Council. Nevertheless, to exercise its jurisdiction, the aggressor state must be a state party to the Statute and accepted the ratifications. Furthermore, if a state party does not accept the amendments, the Court shall not exercise its jurisdiction regarding a crime of aggression committed by that state party’s nationals or on its territory.  This mechanism is a great challenge to the ICC and people who hoped ICC could hold national leaders accountable for the illegal use of force against other states.