Why Try Again to Define Aggression

The United Nations is trying again to define aggression. After nearly a decade of inaction the General Assembly established in its Resolution 2330 (XXII) the "Special Committee on the Question of Defining Aggression, composed of thirty-five Member states to be appointed by the President of the General Assembly, taking into consideration the principle of equitable geographical representation and the necessity that the principal legal systems of the world should be represented." 1 In the face of strong opposition from some, who feel that the effort will be turned into a search for propaganda advantage, 2 and from others that it is an exercise in futility, 8 the General Assembly has instructed the new Special Committee "to consider all aspects of the question in order that an adequate definition may be prepared and to submit to the General Assembly at its twenty-third session a report which will reflect all the views expressed and the proposals made." Some states sought much more than the resolution requires, namely, preparation of a text in "black letter" form to be presented in September, 1968, to the General Assembly for adoption as a resolution. 4 Others envisaged the Special Committee's work as primarily an examination of the question with a view to drawing up a draft definition, while still others wanted to make of the Special Committee no more than a study group devoted to the problem. Under this latter view the Special Committee would submit no draft definition in 1968 but would conduct only preparatory work to permit the General Assembly to decide on further procedure. Those with the narrowest view suggested limiting the Special Committee to study from a technical viewpoint of the different types of aggression and of the relation of any definition that might ultimately ensue to the general work of the United Nations in the maintenance of peace and security, and of the legal consequences to be expected of a

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• The Lady and the Banyan Tree

  Daniel S Lev•The American Journal of…•1965

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