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PAVEL ŠTURMA
CYIL 6 ȍ2015Ȏ
enumeration of aggressive acts, because no enumeration could be exhaustive. It was
therefore decided to aim at a general and abstract definition. But the ILC’s efforts to
draft a general definition were not successful.
11
It was clear that the definition concerned the acts of States. Nevertheless, during
the same session, the matter was reconsidered in connection with the preparation of
the draft Code of offences against the peace and security of mankind. The Commission
then decided to include among the offences defined in the draft Code any act of
aggression and any threat of aggression.
12
This was the first occasion when the work
of the ILC linked the definition of a crime and the definition of an act of aggression.
The next year, however, the General Assembly, in resolution 688 (VII), established
a fifteen-member special committee which was requested to submit to the General
Assembly in 1954 “draft definition or draft statements of the notion of aggression”.
13
This was the first of the series of special committees subsequently established by the
General Assembly leading up to a Special Committee on the Question of Defining
Aggression, composed of 35 Member States, established by resolution 2330 (XXII)
of 18 December 1967.
This intergovernmental body finally, in 1974, adopted a draft definition of
aggression, which was eventually adopted by the General Assembly. The text of the
Definition of Aggression is contained in the famous GA resolution 3314 (XXIX).
14
This is up to now the only authoritative, though not legally binding, definition of
aggression as an act of State.
3.1 The 1954 Draft Code of Offences
Meanwhile, the ILC continued in its work on the draft Code. The Commission
began its consideration of the topic at its first session in 1949, when it appointed J.
Spiropoulos as Special Rapporteur. The ILC proceeded with its work at its third, fifth
and sixth sessions, in 1951, 1953 and 1954, respectively.
At its session in 1951, the ILC completed a first draft Code of Offences against
the Peace and Security of Mankind, with commentaries. Article 2 of the draft Code
included,
inter alia
, a list of crimes that had their roots in crimes against peace but
which reflected the development in
jus ad bellum
represented by Article 2 (4) of the
UN Charter.
15
According to Article 2(1) the offences against the peace and security of mankind
include: “Any act of aggression, including the employment by the authorities of a State
11
The Work of the International Law Commission
. Vol. I,
op. cit
., p. 82.
12
See YILC, 1951, vol. II, doc. A/1858, § 53.
13
GA res. 688 (VII), 20 December 1952.
14
See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-ninth Session, Annexes, agenda item 86,
doc. A/9890.
15
Cf.
McDOUGALL, Carrie,
op. cit
., p. 4.