Our purpose: Promoting peace through criminal justice – preventing crimes of aggression

Through the United Nations Charter, States have expressed their commitment “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. They have agreed to renounce the illegal threat or use of force, and to settle their disputes “by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered”. States have the legal duty to abide by this commitment and the UN Security Council has the primary responsibility to enforce it.The Nuremberg Trials made it clear that criminal justice also has an important role to play for the promotion of peace and the deterrence of acts of aggression – though it remained limited and theoretical for many decades thereafter.  With the 2010 Kampala amendments to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, States Parties created a new mechanism to enforce the most important rule of international law: the prohibition of the illegal use of force under the United Nations Charter. This website is dedicated to making accountability a reality.

The Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression (GIPA) informs about the current delevopments related to the crime of aggression:

News

28 DEC 2025

The Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression congratulates Professor Gregory Gordon on the publication of his new book “Nuremberg’s Citizen Prosecutor: Benjamin Ferencz and the Birth of International Justice” (2025).

28 DEC 2025

Side events on the crime of aggression at the Assembly of States Parties: The crime of aggression was a key focus of side-event panels at the 24th session of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC held in The Hague from 1 to 5 December 2025.

On 1 December 2025, Liechtenstein organized a side event on the legality of the use of force to advance accountability for the crime of aggression and to encourage wider ratification of the Kampala amendments. Three GIPA members joined: Dr. David Donat Cattin, Liechtenstein Ambassador Christian Wenaweser and Prof. Dr. Claus Kreß.
On the same day, GIPA member Prof. Dr. Claus Kreß joined the panel on “Accountability for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine”.The panelists explained the key legal features of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (STCA).

On 3 December 2025, GIPA co-organized an event on “The Crime of Aggression After the Special Session: No Justice without Jurisdiction” to reflect on the outcome of the Special Session of July 2025 and the necessary steps for adopting the harmonization amendments in 2029. The panel was moderated by Andreas Schüller (ECCHR) and joined by two GIPA members, Professor Jennifer Trahan and Liechtenstein Ambassador Christian Wenaweser.
On 4 December 2025, the International Nuremberg Principles Academy organized a panel discussion on “80 years after Nuremberg – Quo Vadis, ICC? The Future of the International Criminal Justice in a Divided World”.  Liechtenstein Ambassador Christian Wenaweser was among the panelists who explored strategies to ensure that the principles of Nuremberg continue to guide international justice amid global division.
25 NOV 2025
KCL Event on “Prosecution of the crime of Aggression – Navigating through the Whirlpool of Politics”: On 12 November 2025, GIPA member Professor Patrycja Grzebyk gave a seminar at King’s College London on the recent developments in the fight for the consistent prosecution of the crime of aggression, including the Special Session of the Assembly of States Parties of July 2025, the negotiations leading to the Statute of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine in May 2025 and the current work of the International Law Commission on immunities. A video of the event is available here.
25 NOV 2025

LSE event “The crime of war: from the Nuremberg trial to Ukraine”: On 8 October 2025, GIPA member Professor Claus Kreß was invited to speak at the London School of Economics and Political Science about the prospects for international law and the crime of aggression after Ukraine and in the light of the historic first aggression trials at Nuremberg. The event was chaired by Professor Gerry Simpson (LSE), a former legal adviser at the ICC negotiations in Rome and at the UN. A video of this event is available here.

23 NOV 2025

Panel at the United Nations: On 28 October 2025, GIPA Executive Council member Ambassador Christian Wenaweser and GIPA Convenor Professor Jennifer Trahan spoke on a panel entitled: “80 Years After Nuremberg and Tokyo: The Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine as a Building Block for a System to Support Peace and End Impunity for Starting Wars”. The panel was moderated by GIPA Council of Adviser member Dr. David Donat Cattin. Other panelists included Dr. Iryna Mudra (Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine), Lithuanian Ambassador Rytis Paulauskas, James Goldston (Open Society Justice Initiative), Jörg Polakiewicz (Legal Advice and Public International Law, Council of Europe), Lóránt Havas (European External Action Service) and Dr. Viviane Dittrich (International Nuremberg Principles Academy).

23 AUG 2025

Symposium Issue Honoring the Life and Work of Benjamin B Ferencz: The Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review dedicated its latest issue on the work of the co-founder of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression (GIPA) Benjamin B. Ferencz. Five members of the GIPA were among the academics who contributed articles to the issue: Noah Weisbord described Ferencz’s worldview during the Cold War. Jennifer Trahan wrote about the limited jurisdiction of the ICC over the crime of aggression, an issue that Ferencz was deeply distressed by, and offered ways to amend it. David Donat Cattin explained the unique function of the crime against humanity of “other inhumane acts” in the progressive development and codification of ICL. Daniel D. Ntanda Nsereko explored the exceptions to head of state immunity. Gregory S. Gordon revisits the birth of ICL’s victim restoration-reparations regime to conceptualize its modern reform.

28 JUL 2025

Seycelles becomes 49th State to accept Kampala amendments: The GIPA congratulates Seycelles on becoming the 49th State to accept the amendments on the crime of aggression on 1 July 2025.

20 JUL 2025
The work of civil society recognized in the Report of the Chair of the Working Group on Amendments: The Chairman’s report acknowledged the important role civil society played in the lead up to the Special Session on expanding the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression:
“Civil society organizations played an active and constructive role in all WGA sessions, strongly endorsing the harmonization proposal and calling for decisive action to close accountability gaps related to the crime of aggression. These organizations emphasized that harmonization is essential for upholding the principle of equal justice, ensuring that victims of aggression have access to meaningful accountability, and preserving the ICC’s normative consistency and global standing. They unequivocally stated that harmonization was not merely a technical or legal exercise, but a human rights and justice imperative. In their view, victims of aggression, like those of genocide or war crimes, deserve access to justice and accountability mechanisms that do not depend on whether their State has accepted a specific jurisdictional clause.”
This marked a change from previous lackluster engagement on the topic by civil society.
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