Contents - Constitutional Court of Georgia

The Blank-Prose Crime of Aggression
e. Sending of Armed Groups To Carry Out Acts of Armed Force Against Another State Under
Paragraph 2(g)
Under paragraph 2(g), “[t]he sending by or on behalf of a State of armed bands, groups, irregulars
or mercenaries, which carry out acts of armed force against another State of such gravity as to
amount to the acts listed above, or its substantial involvement therein,” amounts to aggression.
U.S. support for the Contras in Nicaragua in the l980s constituted aggression under this provision.
The United States openly provided assistance to forces seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government
of Nicaragua. 137 The International Court of Justice found that the principle articulated in the
paragraph 2(g) provision represented customary international law and that the United States was in
breach of the prohibition. 138 The U.S. invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April l96l also amounted
to aggression under this provision. The United States actively supported Cuban insurgents who
landed on the Cuban mainland in an effort to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. 139
2. ACTS OF AGGRESSION BY OTHER STATES
Lest it be concluded that the United States is the only state whose actions bring it within the
scope of the proposed definition, note that many other states also have engaged in conduct that
would constitute aggression under the SWGCA’s definition. The High-Level Panel, set up by Secretary-
General Kofi Annan to reconsider the role of the United Nations in the world, found violations
of the Charter’s use-of-force rules so numerous as to defy quantification. 140 By one count, the Panel
said, from l945 to l989 “force was employed 200 times, and by another count, 680 times.” 141 Other
studies have reported similar results. 142 Space permits only a brief survey of these incidents.
137 See generally REPORT OF THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES INVESTIGATING THE IRAN- CONTRA AFFAIR, H.R. REP. NO. l00-433, S.
REP. NO. l00-2l6 (l987).
138 Military and Paramilitary Activities in and Against Nicaragua (Nicar. v. U.S.), l986 I.C.J. l4, l23-26 (June 27).
139 See generally ARTHUR M. SCHLESINGER, JR., A THOUSAND DAYS: JOHN F. KENNEDY IN THE WHITE HOUSE (l965).
140 “For the first 44 years of the United Nations,” the Panel concluded, “Member States often violated [the Charter] rules and used military
force literally hundreds of times, with a paralyzed Security Council passing very few Chapter VII resolutions and Article 5l rarely providing
credible cover.” Report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges, and Change, A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility, U.N.
Doc. A/59/565 (Dec. 2, 2004).
141 Id. at l40 n.l04.
142 See, e.g., ARTHUR M. WEISBURD, USE OF FORCE: THE PRACTICE OF STATES SINCE WORLD WAR II (l997). Weisburd counted one hundred
interstate wars between l945 and l997. K.J. Holsti counted thirty-eight between l945 and l995. K.J. HOLSTI, THE STATE, WAR, AND
THE STATE OF WAR 24 (l996). The Correlates of War Project has counted twenty-three between l945 and l997. Meredith Reid Sarkees,
The Correlates of War Data on War: An Update to 1997, l8 CONFLICT MGMT. & PEACE SCI. l23, l35 (2000). Herbert K. Tillema counted 690
overt foreign military interventions between l945 and l996. Herbert K. Tillema, Risks of Battle and the Deadliness of War: International
Armed Conflicts: l945-l99l (Apr. l6, l996) (unpublished manuscript), quoted in Peter Wallensteen, New Actors, New Issues, New Actions,
in INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION: NEW NORMS IN THE POST-COLD WAR ERA? 5, 6 (Peter Wallensteen ed., l997). A report by the Carter
Center in February, l998 identified thirty “major ongoing wars.” Carter Ctr., Conflict Resolution Update: Update on World Conflicts (Feb.
9, l998). See generally GLENNON, supra note l29, at 67-l00.
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