Pakistan · World · Independent Digital Newsroom
Its fate now rests also in the hands of the states that created it," it said in a statement.
"This is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law.
History will judge this moment."The Trump administration has long been hostile to the court, founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
It has previously imposed sanctions on its prosecutors and judges.Friday's move goes much further, potentially punishing companies that provide services to the court itself, amounting to an unprecedented attack on an institution founded on an international treaty.
The US initially signed the Rome Statute that founded the court but never ratified it."President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, first published by Reuters."That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court.
We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off its resources and crippling its ability to operate."The US Treasury announced the sanctions with a six-month initial grace period, and some other exemptions that would allow some transactions for telecoms, software, payment of pensions and transactions related to detainees.Rubio said the sanctions had been structured to give the court and its member states an opportunity to address US concerns, and….
ICC officials have not taken steps toward such prosecutions."The sanctions are intended to undermine the rule of law internationally and the work that an independent judicial institution is doing," ICC Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters.
"Our work will continue across all our situations, our investigations and our prosecutions."EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on social media that the six-month period "offers a window for dialogue" but added that the bloc "has options to ensure that (the ICC) can continue its vital work." Belgium's foreign minister called for an EU blocking statute to be activated to protect the court.The ICC has issued arrest warrants against….
In addition to Netanyahu, it has sought the arrest of Hamas figures.
Others who were the subject of arrest warrants include Russian President Vladimir Putin, former Sudan President Omar al-Bashir and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Charges against Kenyan President William Ruto and former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta were withdrawn.Despite US calls for countries to quit the court, it has received strong backing from most member states, which include all EU countries and all members of the Nato alliance apart from the United States and Turkey.
It is based in the Netherlands, an EU and Nato member.The Nobel Prize awarded hours earlier to South African jurist Navi Pillay, who sat on the ICC's Appeals Chamber from 2003-2008, was explicitly described by the prize committee as a gesture of support for such tribunals at a time when "judges and institutions of international law are under political attack"."An international legal system in which war criminals are held to….
Washington announced new sanctions just days after Trump returned to office in January 2025.Court officials have been preparing for months for the prospect of sanctions on the court itself, shifting office computers from Microsoft software to open-source equivalents and making new arrangements for banking and health insurance.
