Ukraine, The Crime of Aggression and the Need for a Special Tribunal - Carrie McDougall

Law and the Future of War

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This episode is the third in a series of podcasts analysing accountability in the current Ukrainian conflict.
In this third episode, we are speaking with Dr Carrie McDougall, from the University of Melbourne, who has been heavily involved in the proposal for the establishment of a Special International Tribunal to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of crimes of aggression committed on the territory of Ukraine.
In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, unprecedented support has been lent to efforts to ensure that those responsible for serious international crimes being committed in Ukraine are held to account. But what prospect is there for the prime mover, President Putin, being prosecuted?

Dr Carrie McDougall, formerly a legal specialist at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Legal Adviser at Australia’s Mission to the United Nations, is currently researching and teaching international law at the University of Melbourne. She is an expert on the use of force and international criminal law, in particular the crime of aggression, having been heavily involved in the negotiation of the aggression amendments to the Rome Statute and having authored several works on the crime, including the leading monograph on the subject, The Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Additional Resources:
General Crime of Aggression Publications:

• Carrie McDougall, The Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (2nd ed, CUP, 2021).
• Claus Kress & Stefan Barriga (eds), The Crime of Aggression: A Commentary (CUP, 2016).
• Carrie McDougall, ‘The Crime of Aggression’ in Pedro Caeiro, Sabine Gless and Valsamis Mitsilegas (eds), The Elgar Encyclopedia of Crime and Criminal Justice.

Special International Tribunal video recordings and key blog posts:

• Chatham House: A Criminal Tribunal for Aggression in Ukraine .
• Chatham House: Aggression Against Ukraine: Holding Russia Accountable.
• Edgehill Int Law: Do We Need a Special Tribunal for Aggression for Ukraine?
• Carrie McDougall, ‘Why Creating A Special Tribunal for Aggression Against Ukraine is the Best Available Option: A Reply to Kevin Jon Heller and Other Critics’, Opinio Juris.
• Kevin Jon Heller, ‘The Best Option: An Extraordinary Ukrainian Chamber for Aggression’, Opinio Juris.
• Alexander Komarov and Oona Hathaway, ‘Ukraine’s Constitutional Constraints: How to Achieve Accountability for the Crime of Aggression', Just Security.