On August 20, the Trump administration has yet again declared sanctions on the judges of the International Criminal Court(ICC), who had issued an arrest warrant on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his alleged catastrophic and devastating role in the Gaza war which is deemed as the ‘crimes against humanity’.
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the sanctions on Judge Nicolas Guillou of France as he was a part of the bench that prosecuted Israeli Prime Minister. Sanctions were also imposed on Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada as he was part of a bench that issued verdict related to alleged war crimes in Afghanistan in which the US forces were involved. Additionally, two other judges, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Fiji and Senegal respectively were also sanctioned by the US administration.
While announcing the sanctions against the ICC judges Secretary Rubio has accused the ICC as a ‘national security threat’ as they are investigating on US and Israeli citizens without the consent of the either of the country. “ICC has become an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel”, said secretary Rubio while accusing the International Criminal Court and its judges.
ICC has criticized the US sanctions on the judges as “flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution”. Meanwhile French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed his ‘dismay’ over the sanctions. Spokesman of the Foreign Ministry of France reiterated that the US sanctions is in ‘contradiction to the principle of an independent judiciary’.
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has thanked the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his ‘decisive act against a smear campaign of lies against the State of Israel and the Israeli Army’.
Repeated crackdown of the United States on ICC judges
The Trump administration is extremely in apprehension of the ICC judges. It has imposed sanctions on various officials of the ICC and has outrightly rejected the authority of the International Criminal Court. In the month of June, Secretary Rubio had announced sanctions on four other ICC judges as they supported the ‘illegitimate ICC actions against Israel and as they backed the arrest warrants for Israeli PM Netanyahu and the Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’.
The ICC judges who are under the sanctions imposed by the Washington DC are barred from entering the United States and if the judges possess any assets in the country that will be blocked until the sanctions are lifted. United States is not a signatory and party to the International Criminal Court, thus not bound by the court’s verdict.
Every other US administration has had a conflicting relationship with the ICC. Even the previous US administration under Joe Biden had accused ICC for actions against Israel. However it had lifted some of the US sanctions on the ICC and had allowed limited cooperation with the court. But, Trump administration has relentlessly cracked down on the ICC Judges.
These political moves by the Trump administration on an international judicial system are a mockery to the repeated claims of Washington as being the champion of the rule-based international order. The very nation which schools the world and the Global South especially to abide by the global treaties and rules of the international institutions is seemingly not just ignoring it but also clamping down on it, to fulfill its geopolitical ambitions!
