Within the newest episode of the U.S. shifting away from worldwide organisations, the Donald Trump administration on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) announced sanctions on the two senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), together with its President Tomoko Akane of Japan and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an announcement, mentioned that the 2 people “instantly engaged in efforts by the ICC to analyze, arrest, detain, or prosecute officers whose authorities has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.
Whereas Mr. Rubio didn’t point out any particular particular person or physique focused by the worldwide tribunal, the sanctions are pursuant to the U.S.’s Government Order 14203 which was issued on February 6, 2025, and cited the ICC’s investigations in opposition to and arrest warrants on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC has deplored the sanctions, calling it a “flagrant assault in opposition to the independence of an neutral judicial establishment”.
What’s the ICC and the way does it work?
An unbiased intergovernmental organisation headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICC was shaped and capabilities on the idea of the Rome Statute, which was adopted at a United Nations convention within the Italian capital on July 1, 1998, and got here into drive on July 1, 2002.
The Statute has 137 signatories together with the U.S. and Israel, and 125 members. The 2 allies usually are not members of the court docket regardless of being signatories since they haven’t ratified the doc. A number of different main international locations, together with India, China, and Russia, are additionally not a part of the ICC. The court docket was established to analyze and prosecute people accused of committing severe crimes that concern the worldwide group, together with genocide, conflict crimes, and crimes in opposition to humanity. It has jurisdiction to attempt folks from its member states and for crimes dedicated throughout the territory of its member states.
The court docket acts provided that the state involved “doesn’t, can’t, or is unwilling” to prosecute people. When the court docket acts in opposition to a person of a rustic that’s not a part of Rome Statute, the state might or might not determine to simply accept the proceedings. However for instances referred to the court docket by the UN Safety Council, the court docket will get a versatile jurisdiction.
What are the U.S.’s contentions in opposition to the ICC?
Mr. Rubio, in his assertion saying the most recent sanctions, mentioned that the court docket has made a number of makes an attempt to say authority over U.S. nationals and residents of nations outdoors the court docket’s jurisdiction. This, the U.S. Secretary of State mentioned, units a harmful precedent.
After the court docket issued arrest warrant in opposition to Mr. Netanyahu in November 2024, accusing the Israeli Prime Minister of being chargeable for conflict crimes in Gaza together with utilizing hunger as a technique of warfare and deliberately directing assaults on civilians, the U.S. mentioned that the motion threatens to infringe upon its sovereignty and undermine nationwide safety and overseas coverage of the nation and its allies.
The U.S. has mentioned that the court docket was overstepping its jurisdiction in investigating army officers and political figures from international locations that aren’t members of the Rome Statute.
The Joe Biden administration within the White Home, when the warrant in opposition to Mr. Netanyahu was issued, additionally rejected the transfer and expressed considerations over “troubling course of errors” behind the choice with out elaborating on it.
With the most recent motion, the U.S. has now sanctioned 9 of the court docket’s 18 judges, each of its deputy prosecutors in addition to a former chief prosecutor. Mr. Rubio has additionally mentioned the U.S. will sanction organisations that work with the ICC and stress member states to withdraw from the establishment. Venezuela, whose chief Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped by U.S. forces in January this 12 months, and Chad had announced last month their resolution to tug out from the court docket. This takes the variety of international locations to announce withdrawal from the court docket within the final 12 months to 5, together with Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
What are the impacts of the sanctions and what are the reactions to it?
Aside from limiting the officers from travelling to the U.S., the sanctions may even forestall the people from accessing the U.S. monetary system, to which most worldwide banks are linked. The sanction may even freeze any U.S. property held by the officers. The sanctions can have impacts within the every day lifetime of the focused people with the Related Press quoting Canadian decide Kimberly Prost, who was sanctioned final 12 months, saying that she had misplaced entry to her bank cards and Amazon’s Alexa stopped responding to her.
Whereas Mr. Netanyahu lauded the U.S. sanctions and slammed the ICC as a “kangaroo court docket”, Japan, house of Ms. Akane and the most important funder of the ICC, objected to the “very unlucky” sanctions, saying it has “constantly supported the ICC… to uphold the rule of legislation”.
UN Secretary-Common Antonio Guterres expressed severe considerations over the U.S. sanctions, with a spokesperson saying that the ICC is a “key pillar of worldwide legal justice”. UN Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, referred to as the sanctions unacceptable and demanded it’s lifted whereas European Fee chief Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the court docket “should be capable of act independently and with out exterior stress”.
European majors like The Netherlands, which host the court docket, and Germany have are available favour of the court docket. Whereas Germany’s Overseas Ministry mentioned the independence of the ICC was “of central significance”, Dutch Overseas Minister, Tom Berendsen, mentioned he has invited Ms. Akane for talks “to debate our continued help”.
The U.S. sanction is just not the primary reactionary measure that Ms. Akane, who has been a decide on the ICC since 2018 and its President since 2024, has confronted in her profession with the ICC. After the court docket issued an arrest warrant in opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow retaliated and issued its personal warrants in opposition to senior court docket officers together with the Ms. Akane.
“Even when one decide had been to die, we’re simply replaceable, so there’s actually no worth in focusing on us,” the 70-year-old decide had mentioned after the Russian announcement.
Printed – August 20, 2026 10:59 am IST
