Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa express their firm support for the ICC, President Tomoko Akane, and other staff members. According to them, judges and officials must be able to work independently and free from external pressure. EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has also rejected the US sanctions.
Several European governments have also responded. Germany states that the ICC carries out its task as intended by holding suspects of the most serious crimes accountable. France and Spain have also expressed support for the court and opposed US pressure on its staff.
Netherlands
As host country of the ICC, the Netherlands occupies a special position. Minister of Foreign Affairs Tom Berendsen condemns the sanctions and emphasizes that international courts must be able to do their work freely. He has invited Akane for talks in The Hague about further Dutch support for the court.
Promotion
The new US sanctions of August 18 target Akane, the Japanese president of the ICC, and Abdoulaye Seye from Senegal, a senior lawyer at the prosecutor’s office. Seye was involved in the investigation of alleged crimes related to Israeli military operations in Gaza.
Americans
The measures represent a new step in a longer American offensive against the court. Currently, nine of the eighteen ICC judges are under US sanctions. Prosecutors and other staff have also been affected. The sanctions can freeze their US assets and make transactions with US persons and companies impossible.
The Trump administration primarily contests the ICC’s right to prosecute individuals from countries that have not accepted the court’s authority. The United States and Israel are not members. However, the ICC asserts it has jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes in Palestinian territory because Palestine has accepted its jurisdiction.
Gaza
The confrontation escalated after the ICC issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Netanyahu denies the accusations and welcomed the new US measures. Minister Marco Rubio wants to further reduce the court’s powers over Americans and other citizens of non-member states.
Statute
The ICC calls the sanctions an attack on its independence and warns that pressure on judges and prosecutors also affects the international legal order. The legal advocate Al-Haq considers the European responses insufficient and calls on the EU to use its blocking statute to protect the ICC against US sanctions.
According to Al-Haq, the annex to that European statute should be amended so that the US decision on which the sanctions are based falls under it. The organization also believes the Netherlands, as host country, should go beyond expressing disapproval and take concrete measures to protect the court and its staff.