The International Criminal Court has condemned US President Donald Trump’s move to sanction its staff, saying it intended to harm vital work to investigate the world’s gravest atrocities, including crimes against humanity and genocide.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order authorising aggressive economic sanctions against the World Court and travel bans on its staff, accusing the body of “illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting the US and its ally Israel.
The arrest warrant issued by ICC against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes relating to the Gaza war was cited as the reason for the decision in Trump’s order.
Netanyahu was in Washington this week where he garnered praise from Trump as Israel’s “greatest friend”.
Reacting to the sanction, the ICC called on its member states to stand up against the Trump’s action, describing the US’ move as an attempt to “harm its independent and impartial judicial work”.
“The court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” said the ICC in its statement. It urged its 125 member states “to stand unified” for justice and human rights.
The US, China, Russia, and Israel are not the members of the ICC.
World leaders rallied behind ICC criticising the sanction. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the sanction would “jeopardise an institution that is supposed to ensure that the dictators of this world cannot simply persecute people and start wars,” reported The Guardian.
European Commissioner President Ursula von der Leyen said the court gave “a voice to victims worldwide” and it “must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity”.
A spokesperson for UK President Keir Starmer voiced support for the independence of the ICC and said London had no plans to place sanctions on its officials.
A United Nations rights body in Geneva called for revokation of the sanction. “We deeply regret the individual sanctions announced yesterday against court personnel, and call for this measure to be reversed,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN human rights office.
