Introduction

1. The Working Group on the Review Conference was established by the Assembly at the first meeting of its eighth session. Mr. Marcelo Böhlke (Brazil) and Ms. Stella Orina (Kenya) continued to serve as coordinators of the Working Group at the resumed eighth session.

2. The Working Group held one meeting, on 25 March 2010 and four informal meetings, on 22 and 23 March respectively, to consider the crime of aggression, the stocktaking exercise of the Review Conference and other Review Conference-related matters.

Consideration of amendments: Crime of Aggression

3. The discussions on the crime of aggression were based on a non-paper by the Chairman, H.R.H. Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Zeid Al-Hussein, on outstanding issues regarding the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction for the crime of aggression. The non-paper recalled that according to proposals of the Special Working Group on the Crime of Aggression, all three existing trigger mechanisms contained in article 13 of the Statute would apply to the crime of aggression: State referral, Security Council referral, and proprio motu investigations. In this regard, the crime of aggression would not differ from other crimes under the Statute. However, views diverged on whether and how the crime of aggression should be treated differently regarding: a) The requirement (or not) for the alleged aggressor State to have accepted the Court’s jurisdiction over the crime of aggression; and b) the requirement (or not) of a jurisdictional filter, such as a specific decision by the Security Council. The non-paper discussed these issues from a chronological perspective.