Why is it - legally and politically - so difficult to establish a truly efficacious ICC jurisdiction over the crime of aggression?
Abstract
The article examines the ICC jurisdiction over the crime of aggression as it was covered in the original form of the Rome Statute and in the actual version following the 2010 Kampala Amendment. The difficulties caused by the dispositions on adoption and entry into force of the amendment and in the related documents as well as the current reform proposals are under scrutiny.
References
Abken, Fiona – Rob, Paulina: Amending the Amendment: In Search of an Adequate Procedure for a Revision of the Jurisdictional Regime for the Crime of Aggression in the Rome Statute. EJIL: Talk!, January 13, 2023. https://tinyurl.com/mrxxefkb
Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Sixteenth session New York, 4-14 December 2017. Official Records. Volume I. The Hague, Ipskamp, 2017. https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/asp/files/asp_docs/ASP16/ICC-ASP-16-20-vol-I-ENG.pdf
Béres, Nóra: A Biztonsági Tanács által a Nemzetközi Büntetőbíróság elé utalt helyzetek legfontosabb jogi problémái. Budapest, Mádl Ferenc Összehasonlító Jogi Intézet, 2021. https://doi.org/10.47079/2021.bn.btnbb.5
Béres, Nóra: One Step Forward, One Step Back? The Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute. In: Nóra Béres (szerk.): The ICC at 25: Lessons Learnt, Miskolc–Budapest, Central European Academic Publishing, 2025. https://doi.org/10.54237/profnet.2025.nbicc_10
Clarke, Roger S.: The Crime of Aggression. In: Carsten Stahn: The Law and Practice of The International Criminal Court. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198705161.003.0031
Csapó, Zsuzsanna: Alternatívákban gondolkodhatunk? A Nemzetközi Büntetőbíróság lehetséges kiegészítői/kihívói – az orosz agresszió relációjában. Állam- és Jogtudomány, 2022/4. https://doi.org/10.51783/ajt.2022.4.03
Einarsen, Terje: ICC’s Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression: Amending Article 5 Instead of Article 15bis (Part I, Part II). OpinioJuris, 18. 04. 2025. https://tinyurl.com/2fu9xb8b és https://tinyurl.com/mu9debzu
Excerpts from Judge Péter Kovács’ Partly Dissenting Opinion. In: Jeff Lahav – Yoram Dinstein (szerk.): Israel Yearbook on Human Rights, Volume 51 (2021) https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004504783_011, valamint a teljes szöveggel: https://www.icc-cpi.int/court-record/icc-01/18-143-anx1
Gevorgyan, Maria: How the ICC Assembly of States Parties Failed Small States: A Neorealist Reading of the Crime of Aggression Reform Stalemate. EJIL: Talk!, August 15, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/3mvvedxs
Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression: Proposal for the Amendment of the Conditions under which the International Criminal Cort Exercises Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression. https://crimeofaggression.info/wp-content/uploads/GIPA-model-amendment-proposal_9-September-2023.pdf
Grzebyk, Patrycja: Myths around the review process of the Kampala amendments on the crime of aggression. EJIL: Talk!, June 6, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/57rxkkz8
Haßfurther, Isabelle: Civil Society Calls for the Reform of the ICC’s Jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression: Towards the July 2025 Review of the Kampala Amendments. OpinioJuris, June 25, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/8d3apj7v
Heller, Kevin Jon: Against (False) Consensus — the ASP and the Aggression Amendments. Opinio Juris, December 11, 2017. https://opiniojuris.org/2017/12/11/against-false-consensus/
Heller, Kevin Jon: States Seek to Harmonize ICC Jurisdiction Regarding Aggression. OpinioJuris, April 8, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/yc62y6jr
Hoffmann, Tamás: Az emberiesség elleni bűncselekmények nemzetközi és magyar jogi szabályozása. Állam- és Jogtudomány, 2017/1.
Hoffmann, Tamás: Contra aggressionem? Az agresszió bűncselekményével kapcsolatos nemzetközi jogi dilemmák. Állam- és Jogtudomány, 2019/1. https://real.mtak.hu/93593/1/2019-01-HOFFMANN.pdf
Kovács Péter: A Római Statútum és a nem részes államok. Állam- és Jogtudomány, 2022/4. 64–90. https://doi.org/10.51783/ajt.2022.4.05
Kovács, Péter: Bevezetés a Nemzetközi Büntetőbíróság joggyakorlatába. Pázmány Press Budapest, 2020.
Kovács, Péter: L’individu et sa position devant la Cour pénale internationale. Leiden–Boston, Brill–Nijhoff, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004694293
Kovács, Péter: The Jurisprudential Practice of the International Criminal Court – as I saw it. Budapest, CEA Publishing, 2025. https://doi.org/10.54171/qms.2025.kpjpicc
McDougall, Carrie: Expanding the ICC’s Jurisdiction Over the Crime of Aggression. Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 22., Iss. 3–4. (July-September 2024) 543–564. https://doi.org/10.1093/jicj/mqae042
Milaninia, Nema: Rethinking ICC Reform: Politics, Legitimacy, and the Perils of Expansion Without Consolidation. Just Security, July 7, 2025. https://www.justsecurity.org/116359/rethinking-icc-reform-special-session/
Ocampo, Luis Moreno: Ending Selective Justice for the International Crime of Aggression. Just Security, January 31, 2023. https://www.justsecurity.org/84949/ending-selective-justice-for-the-international-crime-of-aggression/
Official Records of the Review Conference of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Kampala, 31 May – 11 June 2010 (International Criminal Court publication, RC/11), part II.
Pesci, Marco: A Nemzetközi Büntetőbíróság területi joghatósága a Palesztina-eset kapcsán. Iustum, Aequum, Salutare, 2021/4.
Reisinger Coracini, Astrid – Kreß, Claus: For an Effective and Legitimate Jurisdictional Regime on the Crime of Aggression at Last: States Parties to the Statute of the International Court to Convene on Monday for a Special Session in New York. EJIL: Talk!, July 4, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/mpefbze3
Reisinger Coracini, Astrid: Is Amending the Rome Statute the Panacea Against Perceived Selectivity and Impunity for the Crime of Aggression Committed Against Ukraine? Just Security, March 21, 2023. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4398313
Reisinger Coracini, Astrid: The International Criminal Court’s Exercise of Jurisdiction Over the Crime of Aggression – at Last ... in Reach ... Over Some. Goettingen Journal of International Law, Vol. 2., N. 2. (2010)
Report of the Working Group on Amendments Regarding its Work on the Review of the Kampala Amendments concerning the Execise of Jurisdiction with regard to the Crime of Aggression. https://asp.icc-cpi.int/sites/default/files/asp_docs/ICC-ASP-S-1-2-ENG.pdf
Sántha, Ferenc: Az emberiesség elleni bűncselekmények. Miskolci Jogi Szemle, 2008/1.
Copyright (c) 2026 Péter Kovács
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
