USA25 September, 20262 min read
Trump Urges Countries To Withdraw From ICC; Nauru Announces Withdrawal
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Trump urged countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court at the UN General Assembly. Nauru announced it will withdraw from the ICC in line with Trump's call.
9 outlets told this the same way.
Trump targets ICC
President Donald Trump urged countries to immediately withdraw from the International Criminal Court during a United Nations General Assembly session, calling the ICC “a corrupt” and “rogue” institution. Trump said, “We will never allow U.S. service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us.”
The Reuters report said Nauru was the only country to follow Trump’s call during the week’s meetings at the United Nations General Assembly. David Aidding announced that Nauru would withdraw from the ICC, and he told the United Nations General Assembly that “we see it gradually losing its relevance for Nauru.”
Court says it is insulated
ICC Deputy Prosecutor General Nazhat Shameem Khan said the court implemented measures to protect its operations from the impact of any new American sanctions that could target the institution as a whole. Khan told the Financial Times in an interview that preparations had been ongoing for about a year, and she said, “Law must prevail over force.”
The Financial Times reported that the ICC was insulated against US sanctions, and it quoted the deputy prosecutor saying the court was insulated. The Reuters report said the United States has prepared sanctions that would undermine the court’s ability to operate, according to informed sources.
Rights groups challenge
A coalition of 38 civil society organizations filed a joint court brief challenging the Trump administration’s sanctions on the International Criminal Court in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on September 22.
Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said, “As the Trump administration steps up its attacks on the ICC and the civil society organisations essential to its work, it is crucial to demonstrate to the US Federal Court how sanctions are harming global civil society, victims and survivors of crimes under international law, and the very idea of international justice.”
The brief said the designated entities had already lost funding, staff, banking access and partnerships, and it warned that other organizations had been deterred from engaging with the ICC.
Alexis Deswaef, President of FIDH, said, “Behind every civil society organisation being silenced or pushed away from the ICC are victims and survivors waiting for justice.”