Accountability for Aggression: Atrocity, Attributability, the Legal Order, and Sanitized Violence

Maryland Journal of International Law Volume 38 Issue 1 Article 3 Accountability for Aggression: Atrocity, Attributability, the Legal Order, and Sanitized Violence Tom Dannenbaum Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mjil Recommended Citation Tom Dannenbaum, Accountability for Aggression: Atrocity, Attributability, the Legal Order, and Sanitized Violence, 38 Md. J. Int'l L. (2024). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mjil/vol38/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Journals at DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Maryland Journal of International Law by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@UM Carey Law. For more information, please contact . 2 DANNENBAUM (DO NOT D ELETE ) 11/30/2023 5:45 PM Accountability for Aggression: Atrocity, Attributability, the Legal Order, and Sanitized Violence TOM DANNENBAUM† In the year since the Russian Federation escalated its aggression against Ukraine into a full-scale invasion, criminal accountability for that violation has been the subject of multifaceted discussion and debate.1 The nonviability of existing mechanisms has ©2023 Tom Dannenbaum †Associate Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University. This paper is adapted from the author’s Gerber Lecture and keynote address at the Annual International and Comparative Law Symposium at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, November 3–4, 2022. Thanks are due to participants in the conference for the questions and comments following the lecture and particularly to Scott Shapiro for his incisive remarks as the discussant and to Matiangai Sirleaf for moderating the conversation. With the exception of states’ and international organizations’ official support for aggression accountability (which were updated shortly prior to final publication), the text and sources were last updated in mid-January 2023. 1. On the initial 2014 aggression, see Mary Ellen O’Connell, The Crisis in Ukraine — 2014, in THE USE OF FORCE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CASE-BASED APPROACH 855 (Olivier Corten & Tom Ruys eds., 2018). Following the 2022 escalation, both The Elders and an ad hoc group led by Gordon Brown, Dapo Akande, Philippe Sands, and others called for an aggression tribunal within days of the escalation. Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown Former Prime Minister of the UK, et al., Calling for the Creation of a Special Tribunal for the Punishment of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (Mar. 4, 2022), available at https://gordonandsarahbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Combined-Statement-andDeclaration.pdf; The Elders call for a criminal tribunal to investigate alleged crime of aggression in Ukraine, THE ELDERS (Mar. 5, 2022), https://theelders.org/news/elders-callcriminal-tribunal-investigate-alleged-crime-aggression-ukraine. Subsequent expert commentary and analysis has proliferated. See, for example: Larry Johnson, United Nations Response Options to Russia’s Aggression: Opportunities and Rabbit Holes, JUST SEC. (Mar. 1, 2022), https://www.justsecurity.org/80395/united-nations-response-options-to-russiasaggression-opportunities-and-rabbit-holes/; Sergey Vasiliev, Aggression against Ukraine: 16 2 DANNENBAUM (DO NOT D ELETE ) 2023] ACCOUNTABILITY FOR AGGRESSION 11/30/2023 5:45 PM 17 Avenues for Accountability for Core Crimes, EJIL Talk! (Mar. 3, 2022), https://www.ejiltalk.org/aggression-against-ukraine-avenues-for-accountability-for-corecrimes/; Kevin Jon Heller, Creating a Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine is a Bad Idea, OPINIO JURIS (Mar. 7, 2022), https://opiniojuris.org/2022/03/07/creating-a-specialtribunal-for-aggression-against-ukraine-is-a-bad-idea/; Jennifer Trahan, U.N. General Assembly Should Recommend Creation of Crime of Aggression Tribunal For Ukraine , JUST SEC. (Mar. 7, 2022), https://www.justsecurity.org/80545/u-n-general-assembly-shouldrecommend-creation-of-crime-of-aggression-tribunal-for-ukraine-nuremberg-is-not-themodel/ [hereinafter, “U.N. General Assembly”]; Carrie McDougall, Prosecuting Putin for his Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine Part I, JUST SEC. (Sept. 20, 2022), https://www.justsecurity.org/83117/the-case-for-creating-an-international-tribunal-toprosecute-the-crime-of-aggression-against-ukraine/ [hereinafter, “Prosecuting Part I”]; Carrie McDougall, Prosecuting Putin for his Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine Part II, OXFORD HUM. RTS. HUB (Mar. 8, 2022), https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/prosecuting-putin-for-hiscrime-of-aggression-against-ukraine-part-two/; Eric Chang, Why Ukraine is Calling for a Special Tribunal to Prosecute Putin, LAWFIRE (Mar. 10, 2022), https://sites.duke.edu/lawfire/2022/03/10/eric-chang-on-why-ukraine-is-calling-for-aspecial-criminal-tribunal-to-prosecute-putin/; Tom Dannenbaum, Mechanisms for Criminal Prosecution of Russia’s Aggression Against Ukraine, JUST SEC. (Mar. 10, 2022), https://www.justsecurity.org/80626/mechanisms-for-criminal-prosecution-of-russiasaggression-against-ukraine/ [hereinafter, “Mechanisms”]; Shane Darcy, Aggression by P5 Security Council Members: Time for ICC Referrals by the General Assembly, JUST SEC. (Mar. 16, 2022), https://www.justsecurity.org/80686/aggression-by-p5-security-council-memberstime-for-icc-referrals-by-the-general-assembly/; Carrie McDougall, Why Creating a Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine is the Best Available Option, OPINIO JURIS (Mar. 15, 2022), https://opiniojuris.org/2022/03/15/why-creating-a-special-tribunal-for-aggressionagainst-ukraine-is-the-best-available-option-a-reply-to-kevin-jon-heller-and-other-critics/ [hereinafter, “Why Creating a Special Tribunal for Aggression”]; Kevin Jon Heller, The Best Option: An Extraordinary Ukrainian Chamber for Aggression, OPINIO JURIS (Mar. 16, 2022), https://opiniojuris.org/2022/03/16/the-best-option-an-extraordinary-ukrainian-chamber-foraggression/; Barrie Sander & Immi Tallgren, On Critique and Renewal in Times of Crisis, VÖLKERRECHTSBLOG (Mar. 16, 2022), https://voelkerrechtsblog.org/on-critique-and-renewalin-times-of-crisis/; Ralph Wilde, Hamster in a Wheel: International Law, Crisis, Exceptionalism, Whataboutery, Speaking Truth to Power, and Sociopathic, Racist Gaslighting, OPINIO JURIS (Mar. 17, 2022), https://opiniojuris.org/2022/03/17/hamster-in-awheel-international-law-crisis-exceptionalism-whataboutery-speaking-truth-to-power-andsociopathic-racist-gaslighting/; Dapo Akande, Use of force under international law – The case of Ukraine, 62nd meeting of the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law, paras. 23–31 (Mar. 25, 2022), https://rm.coe.int/cahdi-62-akande-use-of-force-under-pil-thecase-of-ukraine-25-march-20/1680a67f82; Owiso Owiso, An Aggression Chamber for Ukraine Supported by the Council of Europe, OPINIO JURIS (Mar. 30, 2022), https://opiniojuris.org/2022/03/30/an-aggression-chamber-for-ukraine-supported-by-thec (...truncated)