US sanctions International Criminal Court itself in latest escalation

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.

“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.

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.