LONDON – Dozens of countries, including Germany, South Africa and Mexico, said Friday that President Donald Trump's decision to sanction the International Criminal Court would “erode the rule of international law.”
A joint statement from 79 countries comes hours after Trump signed an executive order slaps financial sanctions and visa restrictions on ICC staff and their families.
Seventeen countries, including Canada and France, said, “These measures increase the risk of immunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law, many governments.
“Sansions could put the confidentiality of sensitive information and the safety of those involved, including victims, witnesses and court officials,” the statement added.
The signatories said the sanctions would require the ICC to close field offices.
“I regret any attempts to undermine the independence, integrity and fairness of the court,” they said.
The United States and Israel are minorities in around 40 countries that have never signed the ICC, a Dutch-based international court that seeks to consider perpetrators of war crimes like genocide.
However, after historic cooperation between Washington and the ICC, Trump's executive order on Thursday denounced the world “illegal and unfounded actions targeting the United States and our close ally Israel.”
In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister and Hamas leaders Yahyasinwar, Mohammaddev and Ismail Hanie.
The warrant has been linked to the event since October 7, 2023, after seeing Hamas-led terrorist attacks killed 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostages, Israeli officials said. Since then, Israel has launched a military attack in the Gaza Strip that killed more than 47,500 people, according to local health officials.
The court said there is reason to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant used “star as a way of war” by limiting humanitarian aid and deliberately targeting civilians in Israeli campaigns in Gaza. I stated. Israel, which also unaware of the ICC, dismissed these accusations as false and anti-Semitism.
The court's “recent lawsuits against Israel and the United States set dangerous precedents and directly direct current and former US officials, including active service members of the military, setting potential for harassment, abuse and arrests. We put them in danger,” he said.
The signature appeared to be at a time coincided with Netanyahu's visit to Washington. Trump has announced that he shocked and angry many officials, activists and experts around the world, and surprised the US wants to take control of the Gaza Strip.
The historical relationship between Washington and the ICC is complicated.
President Bill Clinton's administration was involved in negotiating the Roman Act of 1998, which was the basis of the ICC. However, according to the Diplomatic Council, the United States opposed the final draft because of fear that “it could expose US soldiers and officials to politicized prosecutions.”
Clinton later signed the law, but asked not to be sent to the Senate for ratification until these concerns were addressed.
