Washington announces sanctions against the ICC, the EU and Japan in support of the Court

Just hours after the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to one of its former judges, Navi Pillay, the International Criminal Court (ICC) found itself on Friday under fire from US sanctions, welcomed by Israel but deemed "regrettable" by the EU.

For Washington, these sanctions are justified by the need to "defend American sovereignty and its citizens against the threat posed by the International Criminal Court," according to a statement released by the State Department.

"They want more power and they want it at our expense," said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, referring to the ICC as a "rogue court."

These sanctions, once implemented, will result in a ban on any financial transaction with the ICC, in order to "cut it off from its resources and reduce its ability to operate," he explained.

They do not come into effect immediately, as the US government is including a six-month grace period intended to "give time for States Parties to demonstrate visible programs to address US concerns about the ICC," according to the statement.

The Court reacted immediately, stating that these sanctions were "an attack on the rule of law and the very foundations of the international legal order, which undermines the fundamental principle that no one is above the law."

The European Union (EU) for its part judged that they were "deeply regrettable" and said it was "ready to take all necessary measures to allow the Court to continue its work".

- "Existential Attack" -

Several European states, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, as well as Canada and Japan, have pledged to "remain united" behind the Court.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesperson, deplored the sanctions which "foreshadow a serious coup against our collective action in support of international criminal justice."

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, also deemed them "unacceptable" and recalled that Washington had previously targeted a number of ICC judges and officials.

The human rights organization Amnesty International, for its part, urged the international community to "resist" these sanctions, and to see an "existential attack (that) must be thwarted."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, himself subject to an ICC arrest warrant since 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, welcomed the sanctions, accusing the ICC of not being "a court" but "a political entity".

Even before the announcement of these sanctions, South African lawyer Navi Pillay, who on Friday won the Nobel Peace Prize specifically for her work at the ICC, had denounced "the attacks" targeting the Court, referring to Donald Trump's virulent and repeated criticisms of the institution.

- Consensus in Washington -

The US president notably described the Court last month as "evil" and "rogue", calling on member states to leave it.

In his statement, Mr. Rubio recalled the cross-party consensus in Washington regarding the ICC, stressing that "Republicans as well as Democrats have always rejected the idea (that it) could perpetuate citizens, members of our armed forces or American political officials."

"The United States has never joined this Court, we don't need it and we don't want it," he insisted.

The six-month delay should allow "our allies to calm the Court's zeal," he added. "Otherwise, the United States will continue to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, until Americans can no longer be threatened."

This duration may be combined "in response to the successes or failures of these efforts".

While the Secretary of State asserted that the United States had sought a "diplomatic solution," he stated that "neither the Court nor the States Parties have so far taken any steps to address our concerns."

The sanctions do not, however, apply to maintenance or software services and access to the "cloud", nor to the operation of the ICC pension system or certain activities related to persons detained by the Court.