The President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute (“the Assembly), Ambassador Tiina Intelmann (Estonia) welcomed the deposit of the instrument of ratification of the amendments to the Rome Statute on the crime of aggression by Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago, became the third State Party to ratify the amendments that were adopted in a historic consensus at the 2010 Review Conference of the International Criminal Court (“the Court”) in Kampala. Trinidad and Tobago also ratified the amendments pertaining to article 8 of the Rome Statute, adopted at the same conference.
Speaking in the Hague, Ambassador Intelmann stated “I congratulate Trinidad and Tobago on their ratification of the Kampala Amendments, in particular those on the crime of aggression. It is fitting that Trinidad and Tobago, which has been an active supporter of the Court since before its creation, should be one of the first to ratify these historic amendments. This is year we have had three ratifications from as many regional groups. What better illustration of the universal nature of the value enshrined by these amendments – the criminalisation of waging illegal war backed up by a credible international judicial mechanism.”
The discussions within the United Nations General Assembly leading to the eventual creation of an International Criminal Court were initiated in 1989 by the then-Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, A.N.R. Robinson. Since the entry into force of the Rome Statute in 2002, Trinidad and Tobago has been an active member of the Assembly and currently serves on its Bureau. At the tenth session of the Assembly, Anthony T. Carmona, a national of Trinidad and Tobago, was elected to the bench of the Court.
The crime of aggression had been included in the Rome Statute in 1998 while its definition and implementation were deferred to a Review Conference. The amendments adopted in 2010 define the crime of aggression and provide for the conditions for the exercise of jurisdiction over this crime.
The Court may exercise jurisdiction over the Crime of Aggression once thirty States Parties have ratified the amendments, and subject to a decision to be taken after 1 January 2017 by the States Parties.
Crime of aggression amendments:
http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ASP/Crime+of+Aggression/