US sanctions ICC hours after ex-judge wins Nobel

The Trump administration put sanctions on the International Criminal Court itself on Friday, hours after Navi Pillay, a former judge at the court, won the Nobel Peace Prize. The move pits Washington against European allies who back the Hague-based tribunal. Until now, US sanctions had targeted individual prosecutors and judges. This designation goes further: it could punish companies that provide services to the court.reuters+1

"President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said. "We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate." He added: "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," and said Washington expected allies "to rein in the court."aa+2

Licenses leave a window for talks

The State Department said the ICC was designated under Executive Order 14203. With Friday's action, sanctions under that order now cover 17 persons in total. A Treasury notice added the court to its list of Specially Designated Nationals, the main US sanctions blacklist. Any ICC property in the United States or held by US persons is now blocked.forth+1

Treasury also issued general licenses at the same time. One allows certain dealings with the court, including keeping its operations running, for 180 days. Others cover IT and cloud services, the ICC pension plan and activity related to detainees. The State Department said the 180-day window is meant to give the court's member states time to show "meaningful progress" on resolving US concerns, and that the license "can be adjusted" depending on how those efforts go.forth

Court vows to continue

The ICC called the sanctions "an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order." "The Court will continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality," said ICC President Tomoko Akane, whom Washington sanctioned in August. Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan told Reuters the court's work "will continue across all our situations."ndtv+3

Court officials have spent months preparing for this step. They have moved office computers from Microsoft software to open-source alternatives and made new arrangements for banking and health insurance. Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler has urged the EU to be ready to use its "blocking mechanism," a tool that shields European countries from the effects of foreign sanctions.reuters

A long-running campaign

Washington has objected to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It also opposed a past ICC investigation of US troops in Afghanistan. The court has 125 member states, including every EU country. At least five have announced plans to leave since the US pressure campaign began, among them Venezuela, Chad, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.thehill+1

According to the AP, the sanctions plan was in the works long before the Nobel announcement. In its citation for Pillay, who sat on the ICC's Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008, the Nobel committee said it wanted to "issue a reminder" at a time when "judges and institutions of international law are under political attack."reuters+1