UN experts on Friday urged Calls on member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to take stronger measures to secure the future of the Court following the United States’ recent series of sanctions against senior court officials, stressing that such sanctions jeopardize justice and only serve to embolden perpetrators of atrocities.
Commenting on the importance of collective action to ensure that the future of the Court and the rights of survivors of humanity’s most heinous crimes remain intact, the experts stated:
The need for action is all the more urgent as the US government has promised to “systematically dismantle the International Criminal Court” because it falsely claims that it threatens US sovereignty. If this policy succeeds, it will undo the international law enforcement measures created by the fires of Nuremberg and Tokyo and the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and extinguish hope for victims of the worst atrocities across the world.
The latest series of sanctions imposed by the Trump administration targets ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior litigator Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal as part of what organizations such as the International Bar Association say Intimidation campaign The aim is to punish the world’s highest court for its investigation into the alleged commission of war crimes by officials from third countries such as the United States and Israel. The US State Department had announced the sanctions against both officials on August 18, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling on the court: “corrupt and fatally politicized.”
The ICC has condemned the imposition of sanctions on both individuals, which would result Freezing their US assetsthe ban on entering US soil and the inability to use US-linked credit cards or access financial services linked to the country represent a blow to international accountability. The UN experts also expressed concern that the extraterritorial effects of these sanctions constituted clear violations of the basic civil liberties of court officials, particularly the Article 70 of the Rome Statutethe fundamental treaty that empowers the ICC and protects officials from coercion, threats or retaliation in the performance of their duties.
The USA has one long and remarkable history to impose sanctions on ICC officials different contextsaround the time the ICC was investigating alleged war crimes by US military personnel in Afghanistan, which led to sanctions in 2020 against then-chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko Executive Order 13928although this was later lifted from the Biden administration.
The ICC has jurisdiction over the war in Gaza Issuance of arrest warrants against key Israeli officials such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has resulted in figures like former prosecutor Karim Khan, Judge Beti HohlerAnd Judge Reine Alabini-Gansou be sanctioned.
The latest wave of sanctions is putting the international community in distress critical pointmaking collaboration more important now than ever, although the final outcome remains to be seen.
