US sanctions entire International Criminal Court in The Hague

*The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute and has long disputed the court’s jurisdiction to investigate or prosecute U.S. citizens for alleged or potential crimes in conflict zones. *

By Andrew Bernard, JNS

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court, an independent judicial body in The Hague, in its entirety on Friday.

The move builds on an executive order that U.S. President Donald Trump signed shortly after the start of his second term, which was previously used to impose sanctions on individual judges and prosecutors of the legal body, which is not part of the United Nations.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the ICC of continuing to try to prosecute U.S. citizens and said that the goal of the sanctions was “crippling its ability to operate.”

“Our message is clear. The United States and its people are not subject to the jurisdiction of the ICC,” Rubio said.

“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC. We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American service members for their defense, to rein in the court.”

“If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, until Americans are threatened no longer,” he said.

The ICC is an independent legal body created by the 1998 Rome Statute that is intended to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression.

The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute and has long disputed the court’s jurisdiction to investigate or prosecute U.S. citizens for alleged or potential crimes in conflict zones.

It has also objected to the ICC’s attempts to prosecute U.S. allies that are not party to the statute, like Israel.

Past administrations have nonetheless cooperated with the court in areas where the United States believes that it has jurisdiction, as when the Biden Administration shared evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine in 2023.

The ICC said on Friday that it “strongly rejects” the U.S. sanctions.

“The court will continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence, for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes,” stated its president Tomoko Akane.

Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom also issued a joint statement in support of the court.

“We regret and strongly disagree with the announcement of sanctions to be imposed upon the court by the United States,” the countries stated.

“We will continue to work together to support the court’s vital work, uphold the rules-based international system and advance accountability.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant in 2024, thanked Trump and Rubio for the sanctions action.

“The ICC is not a court,” Netanyahu wrote. “It is a political body that poses a mortal threat to law-abiding democracies worldwide and to the very idea of national sovereignty.”

The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued 180-day general licenses on Friday for the court to continue “maintenance of its operations,” effectively giving it until April to meet U.S. demands for reform before the sanctions take effect.

Rubio said that the Trump administration continues to “hold out hope for a diplomatic solution.”

“We have structured this action to provide an opportunity for states parties to negotiate and present a solution to address our concerns,” he said. “If these efforts do not bear fruit, we will continue to adjust accordingly.”

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