Full Description
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a crime of staggering magnitude committed against the state and the people of Ukraine, as well as others who have been impacted. Arguing that the crime commenced with the illegal annexation of Crimea, the book centers on the need to ensure individual criminal accountability for the crime, as pioneered at Nuremberg. To quote former German Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, we need to send a very clear message right now to the Russian leadership and thus to everyone else in the world that a war of aggression in this world will not go unpunished. It is not just about Ukraine. It is not just about Russia. It is about the future of our international criminal law.
Describing the historic development of the crime of aggression, from the early peace movements of the 1800s through to the agreement on the current definition of the crime, the book then details the crimes committed in Ukraine, all of which resulted from the original decision to use force. It then explains the elements of the crime and how they potentially might be proven.
Given the ICC's cannot exercise its jurisdiction over the crime in the situation, the book next turns to the efforts to establish a special ad hoc tribunal, tracing the negotiations to create such a tribunal and analyzing the tribunal statute agreed on by the Council of Europe and Ukraine. The volume concludes with a plea for broader accountability for, and jurisdiction over, the crime of aggression, so that it is not enforced only selectively.
The book is aimed at professionals working in law, history, and international affairs as well as those interested in forming a crime of aggression tribunal for the situation of Ukraine, and prosecuting the crime of aggression more broadly before the ICC.
Professor Jennifer Trahan is Clinical Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs in New York and Director of their Concentration in International Law & Human Rights. She is also Convenor of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression.
Contents
Introduction.- The Development of the Crime of Aggression: Historical Background to the 1998 Rome Conference.- The Development of the Crime of Aggression: from the Rome Statute to Present.- The Russian Federation's Invasion of Ukraine: The Crimes Committed and Why the Elements of The Crime of Aggression Are Likely Satisfied.- Calls to Establish an International Tribunal on the Crime of Aggression for the Situation of Ukraine.- An Opposing Plan: Calls for Establishing a Ukrainian Hybrid Chamber to Prosecute Aggression.- Agreement on a Third Way: Establishing a Tribunal through the Council of Europe.- Advancing Peace and Justice More Broadly: The Need to Harmonize the International Criminal Court's Jurisdiction Over all Four of its Crimes.- Index.
