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e term of war crimes for the use of certain weapons in an armed conflict not of an international character.

Many states wanted to add terrorism and drug trafficking to the list of crimes covered by the Rome Statute. [4] 2 However, the states were unable to agree on a definition for terrorism and it was decided not to include drug trafficking as this might overwhelm the court's limited resources. [4] 3 India lobbied to have the use of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction included as war crimes but this move was also defeated. [4] 4 India has expressed concern that “the Statute of the ICC lays down, by clear implication, that the use of weapons of mass destruction is not a war crime. This is an extraordinary message to send to the international community.” [4] 5 Some commentators have argued that the Rome Statute defines crimes too broadly or too vaguely. For example, China has argued that the definition of ‘war crimes’ goes beyond that accepted under customary international law. [4] 6

Developments on aggression approved in Kampala:

In Kampala, the States Parties to the Rome Statute approved a comprehensive package on aggression that included: the definition of the crime which details what is crime of aggression [4] 7 and an act of aggression are; the conditions for the exercise of the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression that provide when the Court could open an investigation; and new Elements of Crimes and seven understandings, which will help the judges to apply provisions on aggression. [4] 7

In the words of the chief American prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials, Robert H. Jackson, a war of aggression is the “supreme international crime.” [4] 8

“[T]o initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole”. [4] 9

The Nuremberg Principles defined three categories of crimes, including the crime against peace. This was the precedent to the current crime of aggression. Including the crime of aggression in the Rome Statute in 1998 was an effort by the international community to prevent atrocities like the ones committed during the World War II from re-ocurring.

Single greatest achievement:

In Kampala 11 June 2010 the landscape of international law underwent a change by amending Article 5 of the Rome Statute to include the following definitions, which distinguish between an “act of aggression” (the act of a collective entity – e.g. a State) and the “crime of aggression” (the criminal action of an individual): [C] VB

A “crime of aggression” would be, under the proposed definition, the “planning, preparation, initiation or execution, by a person in a position effectively to exercise control over or to direct the political or military action of a State, of an act of aggression which, by its character, gravity and scale, constitutes a manifest violation of the Charter of the United Nations.” [V] VA

An “act of aggression” is further defined as “the use of armed force by a State against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of another State, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Charter of the United Nations.” More precisely, an act of aggression should be characterised in confo