About 80 countries condemn US sanctions on Intl. Criminal Court
Scores of countries have denounced US President Donald Trump’s imposition of sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), expressing their “unwavering support” for the international tribunal.
“We reaffirm our continued and unwavering support for the independence, impartiality and integrity of the ICC,” a group of almost 80 countries said in a joint statement.
“The court serves as a vital pillar of the international justice system by ensuring accountability for the most serious international crimes, and justice for victims.”
Among the seventy-nine countries that agreed to the statement were Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Mexico and Nigeria.
They warned that the sanctions would “increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other EU leaders said Trump was wrong to impose sanctions on the ICC.
“Sanctions are the wrong tool,” Scholz said. “They jeopardize an institution that is supposed to ensure that the dictators of this world cannot simply persecute people and start wars, and that is very important.”
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France said it would reaffirm its support for the ICC and mobilize with its partners so that the ICC could continue its mission.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said London supported the independence of The Hague-based court.
The court’s host nation, the Netherlands, said it regretted the sanctions and would continue to support the ICC’s work.
“We don’t know the exact impact yet, but it could make the court’s work very hard and possibly impossible in certain areas,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof stated.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the ICC gave “a voice to victims worldwide” and it “must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity.”
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, authorizing aggressive economic sanctions against the ICC.
The US sanctions include freezing any US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.
Trump’s order cited an ICC-issued arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes relating to the genocidal war on Gaza as a reason for the decision.
Netanyahu visited Washington this week and praised Trump as the Tel Aviv regime’s “greatest friend.”
The United States has not yet disclosed who will be sanctioned under the order, but four sources with knowledge of the matter said the ICC’s British chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is the first and only individual to be targeted so far.
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