The White House also threatened to take additional measures to, as stated in Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s statement, “systematically dismantle the ICC until it no longer poses a threat to U.S. sovereignty.”
The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court. Since its establishment in 2002, the court has issued 60 arrest warrants, including for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova, and has detained 21 individuals.
U.S. presidential administrations have consistently opposed the possibility of the court prosecuting Americans, but only D. Trump waged war against the court through sanctions.
During his first term, he imposed sanctions on the ICC prosecutor and one of his aides for investigating allegations that Americans committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
In 2024, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the Israeli military’s actions in the Gaza Strip, further intensifying D. Trump’s attacks.
“It is a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that maliciously abuses its powers and exceeds its authority,” emphasized M. Rubio.
A. Seye, who was recently appointed as a judge, worked on the Israel and Palestine case.
Last week, four U.S. human rights organizations filed a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s campaign against the International Criminal Court, claiming that the sanctions imposed limit “the ability to seek justice for victims of serious international crimes worldwide.”
Tomas Berendsen, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, strongly condemned Washington’s latest decision.
“International courts and tribunals must be able to freely exercise their powers,” he wrote.
A similar statement was issued by Japan, the largest supporter of the International Criminal Court: the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the U.S. sanctions “extremely regrettable” and added that the country remains committed to strengthening the rule of law in the international community.
