United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced a new set of sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), this time targeting the entity itself, as opposed to the tribunal’s officials or groups that provide support.
The announcement on Friday represented the latest escalation from the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has vowed an “all of government” approach to dismantling the court.
- list 1 of 3Trump administration readies sweeping sanctions against ICC, reports say
- list 2 of 3Why United Nations says US boat strikes may be ‘crimes against humanity’
- list 3 of 3ICC convicts ex-CAR militia leader of crimes against humanity
end of list
“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling their ability to operate against us because our message is clear: the United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC,” Rubio said in a video posted on social media. “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.”
As justification for its actions, the administration has pointed to the court’s ongoing investigation into abuses committed in Afghanistan, which could ensnare US military and intelligence personnel, as well as the ICC’s arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes committed in Gaza.
Before Friday’s actions, the US had sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors, a UN special rapporteur focusing on the occupied Palestinian territories and Palestinian rights groups that have provided evidence to the court.
Several rights groups have challenged those sanctions in US federal court, saying restricting how US citizens interact with the court treads on their constitutional freedoms.
Advertisement
Sanctioned ICC judges have also launched legal challenges in the US.
Speaking to the Reuters news agency on Friday, deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said the sanctions “must be condemned”.
“The sanctions are intended to undermine the rule of law internationally and the work that an independent judicial institution is doing,” Khan said. “Our work will continue across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions.”
The US and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty that establishes the court’s jurisdiction. However, the court has long ruled that abuses committed by US or Israeli citizens on the territories of countries that are ICC members can be prosecuted.
To date, the court has not sought to prosecute any US citizens.
Rights observers have said that the US pressure campaign could have wide-ranging implications for the court’s investigations, particularly the network of local organisations and fact-finders upon which it relies to build cases.
The US has also urged other countries to withdraw from the court, suggesting it would assess allies’ relationship with the court when determining foreign assistance.
The appeal has dovetailed with wariness from some ICC members over what they have called the unequal application of international law, with offenders in the Global South more likely to face accountability.
In July, Chad and Venezuela moved to withdraw from the court, following Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
Friday’s announcement came just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to South African jurist and former ICC judge Navi Pillay.
The judges said the prize comes at a time when “judges and institutions of international law are under political attack”.
“An international legal system in which war criminals are held to account and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world,” they said.
Al Jazeera – Breaking News, World News and Video from Al Jazeera wp:paragraph
هلدینگ کاسپین استانبول | خرید ملک در ترکیه | صرافی معتبر ایرانی در ترکیه | خرید و فروش طلا در ترکیه | مهاجرت به ترکیه | واردات و صادرات در ترکیه | نیازمندیهای ترکیه | اخبار ترکیه | اخبار جهانی | توریست ایران | خدمات توریستی در ایران | تورهای گردشگری ایران | هلدینگ اول | خدمات کاریابی و فریلنسری و شغل | مرجع اطلاعات ایران (همه چیز در ایران) | کیف پول و خدمات مالی و پرداخت یار | اخبار ایران | تابلو زنده قیمت ارز در ترکیه و استانبول | صرافی آنلاین ترکیه | قیمت طلا و نقره در ترکیه | سرمایه گذاری در ترکیه | جواهرات در ترکیه | نرخ لحظه ای ارزها در استانبول | قیمت دلار امروز در ترکیه | قیمت دلار استانبول امروز | قیمت لحظه ای دلار | اخبار روز ترکیه استانبول | اپلیکیشن ISTEX | اپلیکیشن قیمت لحظه ای دلار و یورو و لیر و ارزها در ترکیه
About the Author
