THE HAGUE: US President Donald Trump authorised economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations of US citizens or US allies such as Israel, drawing strong condemnation from around the globe, including some of his staunchest allies on Friday.
The United States, along with China, Russia and Israel, are not member of the ICC – a permanent court that can prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression against the territory of member states or by their nationals.
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, saying that The Hague-based court had “abused its power” by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who held talks with the US president in Washington on Tuesday.
Trump signed the executive order for actions, including freezing any assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the US, after the Senate Democrats last week blocked a Republican-led effort to pass legislation, setting up a sanctions regime targeting the war crimes court.
The sanctions could also hit the court’s technical and IT operations, including evidence gathering. There were also fears that victims might now hesitate to come forward. The ICC said the sanctions sought to “harm its independent and impartial” judicial work.
The ICC condemned US sanctions and pledged to press on with its aim to fight for “justice and hope” around the world. US allies, including Britain, France and Canada, were among 79 ICC member states who said the US action “could jeopardise” the safety of victims, witnesses and court officials.
ICC President Tomoko Akane hit out at the US sanctions, describing them as “serious attacks” against the global law-based order. “Such threats and coercive measures constitute serious attacks against the Court’s States Parties, the rule of law-based international order and millions of victims,” she added.
“We firmly reject any attempt to influence the independence and the impartiality of the court or to politicise our judicial function,” Akane said. The ICC is “indispensable” given the atrocities being committed around the world, she added.
In a statement, led by Slovenia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Sierra Leone and Vanuatu but Brazil, Britain, Canada, France and Germany, the 79 ICC member countries said Trump’s sanctions increased the “risk of impunity” for serious crimes and “threaten to erode the international rule of law”.
France reaffirmed support for ICC with a foreign ministry spokesman saying that Paris would mobilise with its partners so that the ICC could continue its mission in an independent and impartial way. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said Britain had no plans to sanction ICC officials.
The United Nations and the European Union also urged President Trump to reverse the asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their families and anyone deemed to have helped ICC investigations.
UN human rights office OHCHR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said that the ICC should be fully able to undertake its independent work—where a state is unwilling or unable genuinely to carry out the investigation or prosecution. “Seeking accountability globally makes the world a safer place for all.”
Trump’s order said the tribunal had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel,” referring to ICC probes into alleged war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza. Netanyahu accused the court of anti-Semitism.
Following a request by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, judges issued arrest warrants on November 21 for Netanyahu, his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif who was killed last year.
The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare in Gaza, as well as crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
During his first term, Trump imposed financial sanctions and a visa ban on the ICC’s then prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, and other senior officials in 2020. His administration acted after Gambian-born Bensouda launched an investigation into allegations of war crimes against US soldiers in Afghanistan.
