War of aggression

A war initiated by a state through the unlawful use of force against another state. Under the United Nations Charter, force is generally prohibited except in recognized cases such as self-defense or Security Council authorization.

United Nations Charter: The 1945 treaty that establishes the United Nations and sets rules for relations among states. Article 2(4) supplies the central prohibition on force underlying this concept.
Crime of aggression: The international crime of planning, preparing, initiating, or executing an act of aggression by a person able to control or direct a state's political or military action. It translates a state's unlawful resort to force into individual criminal responsibility.
League of Nations Covenant: The 1919 treaty establishing the League of Nations and its system for international cooperation and dispute settlement. Its limits on resort to war preceded the Charter's broader prohibition on force.
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3314: The 1974 United Nations resolution defining aggression for purposes of guiding international practice. Its examples clarify conduct that may qualify as an act of aggression.
Humanitarian intervention: The use of military force in another state, without its consent, claimed to prevent or stop severe humanitarian abuses. Its disputed legality tests whether humanitarian aims can justify force without Security Council authorization.
Use of force in international law: The body of international law governing when states may threaten or use armed force. A war of aggression is a grave violation within this broader legal framework.
Nuremberg Principles: Principles of international law affirmed after the Second World War concerning crimes and individual responsibility. They established that leaders could be personally responsible for aggressive war.
Kellogg–Briand Pact: The 1928 treaty in which its parties renounced war as an instrument of national policy. The pact made renunciation of war a major pre-Charter legal commitment.
Aggression (international law): The use of armed force by a state against another state's sovereignty, territorial integrity, or political independence, contrary to the United Nations Charter. The resolution's definition helps assess whether conduct meets this state-level category.
Responsibility to protect: A United Nations-endorsed principle that states must protect populations from atrocity crimes and the international community should respond when they fail. It supports collective action through the Security Council, not a general unilateral exception to the force prohibition.

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