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.
News
GIPA campaign to strengthen the ICC’s jurisdiction (2026-27): On 17 April 2026, King’s College London Department of War Studies hosted the first public event of the 2026-2027 campaign of the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression (GIPA) to strengthen the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the crime of aggression. Moderated by Dr. Maria Varaki (Co-Chair, KGL War Crimes Research group), the panel included the Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA) Dr. Mark Ellis, Bristol Law School Prof. Noelle Quenivet, and GIPA Steering Committee members Dr. Astrid Reisinger Coracini (Salzburg University) and Dr. David Donat Cattin (NYU), and addressed “The crime of aggression and challenges to the exercise of international jurisdiction”. Panelists discussed the next steps to operationalize the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine and the process towards reforming the ICC’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. For the video of the event, see here. For more information, see here.
US and Israeli attack on Iran: GIPA member Carrie McDougall examines Australia’s support for the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, and argues it is both legally indefensible and strategically dangerous, see here.
Statement by the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression on the Situation in Iran: The Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression (GIPA) condemns the United States of America’s and State of Israel’s acts of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran. For the full statement, see here (English), here (French) and here (Spanish).
Workshop on the Rule of Law: Charles Jalloh, Ambassador Christian Wenaweser and Convenor Jennifer Trahan spoke at the Austrian Mission to the United Nations on January 28–29, 2026. The workshop was entitled Rule of Law as Key to International Peace and Security and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Austria, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, and Switzerland to the UN as well as the University of Vienna and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute. The panels were on The International Rule of Law, Democracy and Human Rights: Double Standards and the International Rule of Law; The Individual and the International Rule of Law; and the Guardians of the International Rule of Law. The discussion included the importance of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, the crime of aggression, and the need to create a workable jurisdictional regime over the crime. The audience was comprised of diplomats, academics and civil society. The program can be found here.
Situation in Greenland: For a post entitled “The Prohibitions of Threat of Force Revisited: Greenland, Credibility and International Law,” authored by Louisa Handel-Mazzetti and Marten Zwanenburg, see here.
Statement by the Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression on the Situation in Venezuela: The Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression (GIPA) condemns the United States of America’s act of aggression against Venezuela. For the full statement, see here.
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). 