On Friday, Oct. 9, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions blocking assets the International Criminal Court might hold in U.S. jurisdictions and giving American companies and individuals six months to end business with the tribunal. The Trump administration is pursuing a campaign to dismantle the court.
The measure targets the ICC as an institution. The administration says the tribunal has become politicized and has tried to prosecute Americans and Israelis unfairly and illegally on war-crimes charges. The ICC was established to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity that might otherwise go unaddressed by the parties involved.
Sanctions and jurisdiction
The sanctions block ICC assets in U.S. jurisdictions. They also give U.S. companies and individuals six months to wind down business with the court. The article doesn’t specify which assets the measure affects or name any companies or individuals subject to the wind-down requirement.
Rubio called the action a cutoff of the court’s resources. “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate against us,” he said in a video address posted to social media. He rejected the tribunal’s authority over the United States, saying, “The United States and the American people are not subject to the jurisdiction of this fake ICC.”
The administration puts the dispute over the court’s jurisdiction at the center of its sanctions announcement. The article describes the U.S. government’s objections and the measure’s effects on assets and business, but reports no response from the ICC.
Allies face pressure to join
Rubio said the United States expects allies, including many NATO members in Europe and Japan, to join the actions. He said many of those allies belong to the ICC and rely on American service members for their defense. No ally has agreed to join the sanctions, according to the article.
“We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American service members for their defense, to rein in this rogue court,” Rubio said. He added that the United States wouldn’t stop its campaign if they refused. “If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, piece by piece, until Americans are threatened no longer.”
A wider campaign against the tribunal
Rubio said Republicans and Democrats both have deep reservations about the ICC, but only President Donald Trump was willing to act against it. “Both parties agree on this, but only President Trump has the resolve to take the action needed to end this threat once and for all,” Rubio said. He laid out the ultimatum plainly: “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC.”
The sanctions announcement came after South African prosecutor Navi Pillay received the Nobel Peace Prize. Pillay had led investigations into potential ICC charges against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the sanctions move predated the Nobel announcement. The report gives no figures on demographic effects, domestic public opposition or costs to the U.S. population.