United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX) (Definition of Aggression) was adopted by the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...

on December 14, 1974 as a non-binding recommendation to the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

on the definition it should use for the

crime of aggression The crime of aggression was conceived by Soviet jurist Aron Trainin in the wake of the German invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. Pictured: Stalingrad in ruins, December 1942 A crime of aggression or crime against peace is the p ...

Background

The adoption of the definition was the culmination of a long process begun in 1923 under the auspices of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

. In December 1967 the General Assembly adopted Resolution 2330 (XXII), which established a Special Committee on the Question of Defining Aggression. This body comprised 35 member states. After seven years, it reported back to the General Assembly with draft proposals that formed the basis of the final Definition of Aggression.

The definition of aggression

The definition makes a distinction between ''

aggression Aggression is behavior aimed at opposing or attacking something or someone. Though often done with the intent to cause harm, some might channel it into creative and practical outlets. It may occur either reactively or without provocation. In h ...

'' (which "gives rise to international responsibility") and ''

war of aggression A war of aggression, sometimes also war of conquest, is a military conflict waged without the justification of self-defense, usually for territorial gain and subjugation, in contrast with the concept of a just war. Wars without international ...

'' (which is "a crime against international peace"). Article 3 "in accordance with the provisions of article 2", defines certain acts as aggression, namely: * armed invasions or attacks, occupation and annexation by force, * bombardments, * blockades, * attacks on armed forces or civilian

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...

or air fleet of a state, * armed violations of Status of forces agreements, Also, certain use of third parties as "proxy" is attributable as own acts to a state, namely: * permitting other states to use one's own territory to perpetrate acts of aggression, and * the employment of armed irregulars or mercenaries to carry out acts of aggression. Article 2 states that the first use of force in contravention of the UN Charter will be prima facie evidence of aggression, but the Security Council has the authority to determine that given the circumstances aggression has not taken place. A war of aggression is a series of acts committed with a sustained intent. The definition's distinction between an ''act'' of aggression and a ''war'' of aggression make it clear that not every act of aggression would constitute a crime against peace; only war of aggression does. States would nonetheless be held responsible for acts of aggression.

Relationship to the definition of the crime of aggression

Resolution 3314 forms with

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2625 (XXV) The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2625, "The Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Co-operation among States" was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly on 24 Octo ...

an integral part of the normative arsenal of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

and continue to exert substantial influence in determining the legality of the

use of force The use of force, in the context of law enforcement, may be defined as "the amount of effort required by police to compel compliance by an unwilling subject." Multiple definitions exist according to context and purpose. In practical terms, use o ...

between states, the protection of

sovereignty Sovereignty can generally be defined as supreme authority. Sovereignty entails hierarchy within a state as well as external autonomy for states. In any state, sovereignty is assigned to the person, body or institution that has the ultimate au ...

, and the promotion of international peace and security. However, the provisions of Resolution 2625 (XXV) of 1970 have a significantly broader scope than the more narrowly defined concept of

set out in UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX). While a violation of the latter constitutes an international crime, unlawful intervention under the 1970 resolution is limited to an international delict, which renders states responsible but does not entail individual criminal responsibility for their leaders.

Criticisms of the definition

The wording of the definition has been criticised by many commentators. Its clauses on the use of armed irregulars are vague, as it is unclear what level of "involvement" would entail state responsibility. It is also highly state-centric, in that it deems states to be the only actors liable for acts of aggression. Domestic or transnational insurgent groups, such as those that took part in the Sierra Leone Civil War and the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...

, were key players in their respective conflicts despite being non-state parties; they would not have come within the scope of the definition. The Definition of Aggression also does not cover acts by international organisations. The two key military alliances at the time of the definition's adoption,

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

and the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...

, were non-state parties and thus were outside the scope of the definition. Moreover, the definition does not deal with the responsibilities of individuals for acts of aggression. It is widely perceived as an insufficient basis on which to ground individual criminal prosecutions. The definition is not binding on the Security Council. The

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the United Nations (UN). It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its United Nations System#Six ...

empowers the General Assembly to make recommendations to the

but the Assembly may not dictate to the Council. The resolution accompanying the definition states that it is intended to provide guidance to the Security Council to aid it "in determining, in accordance with the Charter, the existence of an act of aggression".

Yoram Dinstein Yoram Dinstein (; 2 January 1936 – 10 February 2024) was an Israeli scholar and professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University. He was a specialist on international law and an authority on the laws of war. He served as President of Tel Aviv Univer ...

, ''War, Aggression and Self-Defence'', p. 118. Cambridge University Press, 2003 The Security Council may apply or disregard this guidance as it sees fit. Legal commentators argued in 1999 that the Definition of Aggression has had "no visible impact" on the deliberations of the Security Council.M.C. Bassiouni and B.B. Ferencz, "The Crime against Peace", ''International Criminal Law'', I, 313, 334 (M.C. Bassiouni ed., 2nd ed., 1999)

References

External links

A Brief Primer on International Law
With cases and commentary. Nathaniel Burney, 2007.
Official United Nations website

Official UN website on International Law

Official website of the International Court of Justice

by

Elizabeth Wilmshurst Elizabeth Susan Wilmshurst (born 28 August 1948), Distinguished Fellow of the International Law Programme at Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs), and Professor of International Law at University College London, is best ...