“The court is being threatened with draconian economic sanctions by another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organization,” Judge Tomoko Akane, in her address to the institution’s annual meeting, which opened on Monday.
Akane was referring to remarks made by US Sen. Lindsey Graham, whose Republican party will control both branches of Congress in January, and who called the court a “dangerous joke” and urged Congress to sanction its prosecutor. “To any ally, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham said on Fox News.
This marks the first time the global court of justice calls out a sitting leader of a major Western all.
Graham was angered by an announcement last month that judges had granted a request from the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief for crimes against humanity in connection with the nearly 14-month war in Gaza.
The decision has been denounced by critics of the court and given only milquetoast approval by many of its supporters, a stark contrast to the robust backing of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last year over war crimes in Ukraine.
Graham’s threat isn’t seen as just empty words. President-elect Donald Trump sanctioned the court’s previous prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, with a travel ban and asset freeze for investigating American troops and intelligence officials in Afghanistan.
Akane on Monday also had harsh words for Russia. “Several elected officials are being subjected to arrest warrants from a permanent member of the Security Council,” she said. Moscow issued warrants for Khan and others in response to the investigation into Putin.
The Assembly of States Parties, which represents the ICC’s 124 member countries, will convene its 23rd conference to elect committee members and approve the court’s budget against a backdrop of unfavorable headlines.
The ICC was established in 2002 as the world’s permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. The court only becomes involved when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute those crimes on their territory. To date, 124 countries have signed on to the Rome Statute, which created the institution. Those who have not include Israel, Russia and China.
The ICC has no police force and relies on member states to execute arrest warrants.
US President Joe Biden called the warrants for Netanyahu and the former defense minister “outrageous” and vowed to stand with Israel. A year ago, Biden called the warrant for Putin “justified” and said the Russian president had committed war crimes. The US is not an ICC member country.
France said it would “respect its obligations” but would need to consider Netanyahu’s possible immunities. When the warrant for Putin was announced, France said it would “lend its support to the essential work” of the court.
Another member country, Austria, begrudgingly acknowledged it would arrest Netanyahu but called the warrants “utterly incomprehensible.” Italy called them “wrong” but said it would be obliged to arrest him. Germany said it would study the decision. Member Hungary has said it would stand with Israel instead of the court.
Global security expert Janina Dill worried that such responses could undermine global justice efforts. “It really has the potential to damage not just the court, but international law,” she said.
Milena Sterio, an expert in international law at Cleveland State University, told the AP that sanctions against the court could affect a number of people who contribute to the court’s work, such as international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Clooney advised the current prosecutor on his request for the warrants for Netanyahu and others.
“Sanctions are a huge burden,” Sterio said.
Also hanging heavy over the meeting in the Hague, are the internal pressures that Khan faces. In October, the AP reported the 54-year-old British lawyer is facing allegations he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her.
Two co-workers in whom the woman confided reported the alleged misconduct in May to the court’s independent watchdog, which says it interviewed the woman and ended its inquiry after five days when she opted against filing a formal complaint. Khan was never questioned. He has denied the claims.
The Assembly of States Parties has announced it will launch an external probe into the allegations. It’s not clear if the investigation will be addressed during the meeting.
The court, which has long faced accusations of ineffectiveness, will have no trials pending after two conclude in December. While it has issued a number of arrest warrants in recent months, many high-profile suspects remain at large.
Member states don’t always act. Mongolia refused to arrest Putin when he visited in September. Sudan’s former President Omar Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC over accusations related to the conflict in Darfur, but his country has refused to hand him over. Last week, Khan requested a warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for attacks against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Judges have yet to decide on that request.
“It becomes very difficult to justify the court’s existence,” Sterio said.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defense minister, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov on Tuesday for alleged crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shoigu was removed from his post of defense minister last month, and appointed Secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council, in the most significant changes Russian President Vladimir Putin made to his military command since the start of the war in 2022.
The Hague-based court said Shoigu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine.
Judges had found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023,” the ICC said in a press release.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly said Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine is also not a member, but has granted the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory.
The warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov bring the total of arrest warrants issued against senior Russian suspects since the beginning of the invasion to eight. These include Putin, suspected of a war crime over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The tribunal has no police force of its own and relies on member states to make arrests.
During the timeframe mentioned in the latest warrants Russia is suspected of having carried out strikes against numerous electric power plants and sub-stations all over Ukraine.
According to ICC judges, there were reasonable ground to believe the strikes targeted mostly civilian objects “and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage,” making the attacks war crimes
Global security expert Janina Dill worried that such responses could undermine global justice efforts. “It really has the potential to damage not just the court, but international law,” she said.
Milena Sterio, an expert in international law at Cleveland State University, told the AP that sanctions against the court could affect a number of people who contribute to the court’s work, such as international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Clooney advised the current prosecutor on his request for the warrants for Netanyahu and others.
“Sanctions are a huge burden,” Sterio said.
Also hanging heavy over the meeting in the Hague, are the internal pressures that Khan faces. In October, the AP reported the 54-year-old British lawyer is facing allegations he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her.
Two co-workers in whom the woman confided reported the alleged misconduct in May to the court’s independent watchdog, which says it interviewed the woman and ended its inquiry after five days when she opted against filing a formal complaint. Khan was never questioned. He has denied the claims.
The Assembly of States Parties has announced it will launch an external probe into the allegations. It’s not clear if the investigation will be addressed during the meeting.
The court, which has long faced accusations of ineffectiveness, will have no trials pending after two conclude in December. While it has issued a number of arrest warrants in recent months, many high-profile suspects remain at large.
Member states don’t always act. Mongolia refused to arrest Putin when he visited in September. Sudan’s former President Omar Al-Bashir is wanted by the ICC over accusations related to the conflict in Darfur, but his country has refused to hand him over. Last week, Khan requested a warrant for the head of Myanmar’s military regime, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, for attacks against the country’s Rohingya Muslim minority. Judges have yet to decide on that request.
“It becomes very difficult to justify the court’s existence,” Sterio said.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defense minister, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov on Tuesday for alleged crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shoigu was removed from his post of defense minister last month, and appointed Secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council, in the most significant changes Russian President Vladimir Putin made to his military command since the start of the war in 2022.
The Hague-based court said Shoigu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine.
Judges had found there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023,” the ICC said in a press release.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly said Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine is also not a member, but has granted the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory.
The warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov bring the total of arrest warrants issued against senior Russian suspects since the beginning of the invasion to eight. These include Putin, suspected of a war crime over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The tribunal has no police force of its own and relies on member states to make arrests.
During the timeframe mentioned in the latest warrants Russia is suspected of having carried out strikes against numerous electric power plants and sub-stations all over Ukraine.
According to ICC judges, there were reasonable ground to believe the strikes targeted mostly civilian objects “and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage,” making the attacks war crimes
