DEFINITION OF AGGRESSION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

Lyudmyla FILYANINA

FILYANINA L. (2022), DEFINITION OF AGGRESSION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW; Scientific Bulletin of Dnipropetrovsk State University of Internal Affair, Special Issue №2, 289-293

DOI: 10.31733/2078-3566-2022-6-289-293

 

ABSTRACT. After the end of the Second World War, the question of aggression as an international crime arises. The Statute of the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal in Art. 6 classifies aggression as a crime against peace, namely: planning, preparation, initiation or waging of an aggressive war, or a war in violation of international treaties. Subsequently, the Tokyo Tribunal of 1948 upheld criminal responsibility for waging an aggressive war. The UN Charter also mentions an act of aggression and gives the UN Security Council virtually unlimited powers to determine under what circumstances an act of aggression has occurred.

The events of recent months in Ukraine have renewed public interest in the possibility of criminal prosecution and bringing to international criminal responsibility those guilty of international crimes, including the crime of aggression.

The crime of aggression is the illegal use of force by one state against another state, provided that the applied force, by its nature, severity and scale, is a violation of the Charter of the United Nations and is committed under the leadership of the political or military leader of the aggressor state. The crime of aggression is one of the four crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The article emphasizes that not every act of aggression is a crime against peace – only an aggressive war is a crime against peace; the intention (motive) to commit an act of aggression against another state usually results from an action, i.e. directly from an intentional act, and not vice versa; the main characteristic element of aggression is the use of weapons.

Keywords: act of aggression, UN Charter, Security Council, prima facie.

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