USA14 July, 20263 min read
Marco Rubio Leads U.S. Campaign To Systematically Disable the International Criminal Court
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Marco Rubio announces a whole-of-government campaign to dismantle the ICC. Sanctions target ICC magistrates and personnel, including a French judge.
US targets ICC officials
The United States announced a sweeping campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC) that could include further sanctions and other measures, accusing it of posing "an intolerable threat to US sovereignty." US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a video statement that "The ICC and its friends are waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, compacts and the force of so-called international law." The State Department said the campaign will "systematically disable the ICC's ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty."
The State Department official speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity said the new "whole of government" campaign will pressure other nations "to withdraw from the ICC and cut off any financial support to the court." The move follows earlier US actions in February 2025 when Washington slapped asset freezes and travel bans on several ICC officials over an arrest warrant issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.
EU and Japan push back
The European Union condemned the threats against the ICC after Washington vowed a sweeping campaign, with EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni saying, "Attacks or threats against the court-elected officials, personnel or those cooperating with the court, are simply not acceptable." Euronews also reported that Rubio posted on X and in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that he would "dismantle" the court, claiming it posed "an intolerable threat to US sovereignty." Japan’s top government spokesman Minoru Kihara said Tokyo was "watching closely with concern" a campaign by the United States to use diplomatic pressure to disable the ICC’s ability to operate.
Kihara said Japan places "great importance on the eradication and prevention of serious crimes, as well as the upholding of the rule of law," and that Tokyo would address the issue by consulting closely with the ICC and its other members, as well as Washington. The campaign’s stated aim, as described in the US announcement, is to pressure other countries to withdraw from the Hague-based court and to increase scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s "false authority" while relying on US assistance.
Sanctions expand, legal fight
The US sanctions described by franceinfo targeted four ICC magistrates, including Canadian judge Kimberly Prost and French judge Nicolas Guillou, along with deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal. The measures consist of a ban on entry into the United States and a freeze on assets they may hold in the United States, as well as any financial transactions with them, and they were imposed for directly participating in ICC efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute US or Israeli nationals without consent. franceinfo said the ICC immediately described the sanctions as an outright attack on the independence of an impartial judicial institution, while the French Foreign Affairs ministry expressed its consternation and solidarity with the magistrates targeted.
In a separate analysis, Beth Van Schaack argued in Just Security that Rubio’s threat to launch an all-out assault on the ICC is "as unnecessary as it is misguided," pointing to the ICC’s docket focused on "delivering justice for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity." The stakes described across the reporting include whether the ICC can operate without interference, as the State Department said the campaign would "systematically disable the ICC's ability to operate" and Amnesty International said the decree signed by Donald Trump on February 6, 2025 aims to prevent the ICC from carrying out its independent mandate.