Drawing on primary materials from the League of Nations to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, this book makes the case for the revitalization of a provision of international law which can be fundamental to the prevention of war. Given the distinct lack of analysis or dialogue around the prohibition of propaganda for war in international law — as set forth in Article 20(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — the book maps out the historical development of the prohibition, drawing significantly on the travaux préparatoires to the Covenant. It then pro ... More

Drawing on primary materials from the League of Nations to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, this book makes the case for the revitalization of a provision of international law which can be fundamental to the prevention of war. Given the distinct lack of analysis or dialogue around the prohibition of propaganda for war in international law — as set forth in Article 20(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights — the book maps out the historical development of the prohibition, drawing significantly on the travaux préparatoires to the Covenant. It then proceeds to critique the manner in which the prohibition has been applied in practice, having reference to communications between the Human Rights Committee and states parties to the Covenant, state practice, the substance of the numerous reservations and declarations to the provision, as well as relevant jurisprudence of the European and American regional human rights systems. Having established that at a bare minimum, human rights law prohibits ‘incitement to war’, an investigation into the jurisprudence of the international criminal tribunals considers the matter of individual criminal responsibility for ‘incitement to crimes of an international dimension’. The analysis draws on the work of the International Law Commission, the jurisprudence of the Yugoslav and Rwanda tribunals, and the drafting history of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to propose that a distinct crime of ‘direct and public incitement to aggression’ be included in the Rome Statute.