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THE KAMPALA AGREEMENT ON CRIME OF AGGRESSION …
THE KAMPALA AGREEMENT ON CRIME
OF AGGRESSION AND RESPONSIBILITY
FOR CYBER-ATTACKS
Kristýna Urbanová
Abstract:
In 2010 the Assembly of State Parties to the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court adopted the definition of the crime of aggression. This
article contemplates whether the definition meets the needs of the 21
st
century and
acknowledges newmethods of warfare, such as cyber-attacks.The best known examples
of cyber-attacks which occurred in the context of the state security are briefly outlined
and followed by an analysis of the question of whether the commitment of cyber-
attacks might qualify within the scope of the definition of the crime of aggression.
Resum
é
:
V roce 2010 byla v Kampale na revizní konferenci k Římskému statutu
přijata definice zločinu agrese. Tento článek se zamýšlí nad tím, zda tato definice
odpovídá potřebám 21 století a tzv. novým způsobům vedení války, jaké předsta-
vují např. kyberútoky. Nejprve jsou nastíněny nejznámější příklady kybernetických
útoků souvisejících s ohrožením státní bezpečnosti a následně se článek zamýšlí nad
tím, zda by osoby odpovědné za provedení kyber-útoků mohly nést trestní odpověd-
nost na základě nově definovaného zločinu agrese.
Key words:
International Criminal Court, International Criminal Law, Crime of
Aggression, Kampala Compromise, cyber-attack.
On the author:
Mgr. Kristýna Urbanová graduated from Faculty of Law, Charles
University (Mgr.), where she is currently a first year Ph.D. student at the Department
of International Law.
1. Introduction
Although the crime of aggression has been called the “Supreme International
Crime”,
1
the challenging legal and undoubtedly also political issues caused the
Rome Conference in 1998 to leave the matter of defining the crime unresolved.
2
Therefore, the reach of consensus over the definition of the crime of aggression in the
2010 Kampala Review Conference was hailed as a great achievement within the fight
1
International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Trial of the major war criminals,
Goering et al
., (1946),
Judgment of 1 October 1946, p. 186. Available at
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/NT_Vol-I.pdf.
2
SOLERA, O.,
Defining the Crime of Aggression
, 2007, London, Cameron May Ltd, ISBN-10: 190501743X.