The United States on Friday announced sanctions on the International Criminal Court, vowing to cripple the tribunal’s operations just hours after the Nobel Peace Prize went to a former ICC judge who warned of mounting political attacks on the court.
The court rejected the US sanctions as an attack on international law and warned in a statement that “history will judge this moment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington would ban transactions with what he called a “rogue court,” escalating a long-running campaign by President Donald Trump’s administration against the Hague-based tribunal. “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Rubio said in a statement. The State Department said that was meant to give the court’s member states time to show “meaningful progress” toward addressing US concerns. Countries including Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement that they “strongly disagree” with the announcement. The European Union called the sanctions “deeply regrettable” and said it was “ready to take any necessary measures to enable the court to carry out its work. “President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” Rubio said, adding that the measures would cut off the court’s resources and cripple “its ability to operate.”
