International Criminal Court: New US sanctions ‘a flagrant attack’ on judicial independence

This article is published in association with United Nations.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has strongly rejected new sanctions announced by the United States on Wednesday against four more of its personnel in a renewed push surrounding investigations into US and Israeli officials.   

The sanctions target judges Kimberly Prost of Canada and Nicolas Guillou of France, as well as two deputy prosecutors: Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.

This follows earlier measures against four other judges and the ICC prosecutor.

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Affront to victims

In a press statement announcing the new round of sanctions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the ICC “is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel.”

The UN-backed court denounced the sanctions as “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution”.  

Furthermore, “they constitute also an affront against the Court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world.”

Investigating grave crimes

The ICC investigates the gravest crimes of concern to the international community, namely genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Read our explainer here.

It is based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, and was established under a 1998 treaty known as the Rome Statute which came into force four years later.  The United States and Israel are not among the 125 States that are party to the treaty.

Last November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant, together with a former Hamas commander, in connection with the conflict in Gaza, citing allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 

It is also probing war crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan by all sides during years of conflict, including the US, following the allied invasion of the country in May 2003.

Strong and undeterred

The Court reiterated that it “stands firmly behind its personnel and victims of unimaginable atrocities” and “will continue fulfilling its mandates, undeterred, in strict accordance with its legal framework as adopted by the States Parties and without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat.”

The ICC called upon “States Parties and all those who share the values of humanity and the rule of law to provide firm and consistent support to the Court and its work carried out in the sole interest of victims of international crimes.”

The UN underlined the key role that the ICC has in international criminal justice and expressed concern over the imposition of further sanctions.

“The decision imposes severe impediments on the functioning of the office of the prosecutor and respect for all the situations that are currently before the court,” UN Spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York.

“Judicial independence is a basic principle that must be respected, and these types of measures undermine the foundation of international justice.”