The unprecedented decision by the United States Government to target and sanction individual staff of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) is a direct attack to the institution’s judicial independence and could undermine victims’ access
to justice, UN human rights experts* said today.
“The implementation of such policies by the US has the sole aim of exerting pressure on an institution whose role is to
seek justice against crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression,” said Diego
García-Sayán, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. “It’s a further step in pressuring
the ICC and coercing its officials in the context of independent and objective investigations and impartial judicial
proceedings.”
Following a 5 March 2020 decision by the ICC’s Appeals Chamber, which authorised a probe of alleged war crimes in
Afghanistan committed by all sides in the conflict, including American forces, the US Administration this month
announced it was launching an economic and legal offensive against the Court.
On 11 June 2020, in response to the Appeals Chamber’s decision, the US President issued Executive Order 13928 on
Blocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the International Criminal Court. The US Government declared it
would revoke or deny visas to members of the ICC involved in investigations against US troops in Afghanistan or
elsewhere, and sanction any person “directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or
prosecute any United States personnel without the consent of the United States”. US Attorney-General William Barr said
the moves were aimed at “holding the ICC accountable for exceeding its mandate and violating the sovereignty of the
United States”.
In December 2019, the US Administration had warned that it would “exact consequences” against the ICC for any
“illegitimate” investigations into Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territory.
“The use of unilateral sanctions against international judges and international civil servants constitutes a clear
violation not only of their privileges and immunities, but also of a broad spectrum of rights of the targeted
individuals”, the experts said. “In particular, the enforcement of E.O. 13928 would result in the violation of the
prohibition of punishment for acts that did not constitute criminal offences at the moment of their commission, the
right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of movement and the right to privacy and family life.
“These threats constitute improper interference with the independence of the ICC and could also have potential adverse
impacts on human rights defenders, civil society organisations and victims’ representatives who might be discouraged
from cooperating with the ICC and, consequently, hinder the possibility of victims of atrocity crimes to access
justice.”
The experts have been in contact with the US authorities on the issues.