Introduction

1. The Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court held seven meetings on 2, 3, 4 and 6 June 2008. Ambassador Christian Wenaweser (Liechtenstein) served as Chair of the Special Working Group.

2. The Secretariat of the Assembly of States Parties provided the substantive servicing for the Group.

3. The discussions in the Special Working Group were held on the basis of the revised discussion paper proposed by the Chairman (“2008 Chairman’s paper”). The revised discussion paper was submitted following the discussions held by the Special Working Group during the sixth session of the Assembly of States Parties (30 November to 14 December 2007). It is based on the previous discussion paper (“2007 Chairman’s paper”)2 and reflects the progress made since.

4. At the first meeting of the Special Working Group, the Chairman introduced the 2008 Chairman’s paper. He recalled that the Group was open to participation by all States on an equal footing, and encouraged an interactive discussion. Delegations were especially encouraged to comment on issues that had not been thoroughly discussed in recent sessions. These included the procedure for entry into force of amendments on aggression; the suggested deletion of article 5, paragraph 2, of the Statute; the application of article 28 of the Statute to the crime of aggression; the suggested inclusion of the text of United Nations General Assembly resolution 3314 (XXIX) as an annex to the Rome Statute; and the Elements of Crimes. While the Chairman drew particular attention to these issues, delegations were invited to comment on all the substantive issues addressed in the 2008 Chairman’s paper.

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