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PARIS: France led criticism of the US sanctions against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Thursday (September 3), saying that Washington had launched a “serious attack” on the world body.
The ICC, a special multilateral court created to try cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, has become the latest issue to divide Europe and the United States under President Donald Trump.
Since its inception, the United States has never recognized the authority of the court, but the Trump administration took the unprecedented step of sanctioning its chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, on Wednesday along with another senior ICC official.
“The measures announced on September 2 amount to a serious attack against the court and the signatory states of the Treaty of Rome and, beyond this, a challenge to multilateralism and the independence of the judiciary,” French Foreign Minister Jean said on Thursday. -Yves Le Drian. .
The United States imposed sanctions on the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda (left). (Photo: AFP / Eva Plevier)
A total of 120 states signed the Treaty of Rome in 1998, which laid the foundation for the creation of the ICC four years later.
The United States was not among them, unlike its Western partners, putting it alongside a handful of states like Russia, China and Israel that rejected the authority of the ICC.
In reaction to the US sanctions on Thursday, the European Union said it would defend the court against attempts to undermine it.
“The International Criminal Court faces persistent external challenges and the European Union stands firm against all attempts to undermine the international criminal justice system by hampering the work of its central institutions,” Peter Stano, spokesman for the chief diplomat, told reporters. from the EU, Josep Borrell. .
Human Rights Watch said the Trump administration’s action showed “an egregious disregard for the victims of the world’s worst crimes.”
AFGHANISTAN PROBE
At the heart of the dispute are prosecutor Bensouda’s efforts to carry out an investigation into alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan, which could implicate US soldiers.
Afghanistan is a signatory to the ICC, which has the power to investigate the most serious human rights abuses when member countries are unable or unwilling to prosecute the perpetrators.
Trump had authorized sanctions to the ICC on June 11.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who called the institution a “kangaroo court” at the time, announced that sanctions would be enacted in the form of an asset freeze.
The court, which has been criticized for focusing its efforts on African countries in the past, has opened investigations into alleged atrocities in 12 countries, including Myanmar and Afghanistan more recently.
President Donald Trump paid a surprise Thanksgiving visit to US troops in Afghanistan last year. (Photo: AFP / Olivier Douliery)
It has also enraged Israel by raising an investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
In a statement Wednesday, the ICC criticized the US sanctions as “coercive acts” that it said were an attack on “international criminal justice and the rule of law in general.”
In 2002, the US Congress passed the so-called “Hague Invasion Act” which allows the US president to authorize military force to release any US personnel held by the ICC, in theory making a invasion of the Dutch city that is home to the ICC. possibility.
Trump’s “America First” nationalism and opposition to multilateral institutions have sparked tensions with the European Union on a number of issues, from trade to Iran’s nuclear program, climate change and the role of the alliance of defense of NATO.
