Genocide (Article 28B), Crimes Against Humanity (Article 28C), War Crimes (Article 28D) and the Crime of Aggression (Article 28M)

The section on jurisdiction (“International Criminal Jurisdiction of the Court”) in the Annex to the Malabo Protocol contains among the 14 (sic!) crimes or crime groups the four core crimes recognized by the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute), i.e., genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. While these provisions are largely modeled upon those of the ICC Statute, they also extend the latter’s scope, either by broadening the chapeau (in the case of crimes against humanity) or by adding new underlying acts (in the case of genocide, war crimes, and the crime of aggression). At the same time, the opportunity to improve upon certain flaws in the drafting of the crimes contained in the ICC Statute has been missed. The chapter takes a critical look at the changes vis à vis the crimes in the ICC Statute and highlights some of the opportunities for improvement which have been neglected.