The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday condemned all “intimidation, attacks and interference” with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its affairs. In the framework of a debate on the Court’s annual report, Council President Annalena Verbock described the measures and sanctions imposed on the Court by countries such as the United States as “an attack on the very principles of international law.”
“[The General Assembly]emphasizes that the International Criminal Court and its officers and staff must be able to discharge their duties and professional obligations as international judicial institutions and international civil servants, respectively, without intimidation, and condemns any intimidation, attack or interference against the Court, its officers or those cooperating with it,” reads the resolution endorsed by the multilateral body.
Similarly, delegates called on states parties to the Rome Statute to “enact domestic legislation to implement the obligations arising from the Statute and cooperate with the ICC,” according to the text of the resolution.
“For more than 20 years, courts have fought against impunity and proven that they are capable of fulfilling their responsibilities even in the darkest moments,” Burbock said, adding, “Given the atrocities that continue to shock the human conscience, it is clear that the court’s mission is far from complete.”
The President of the Multilateral Chamber regretted that several officials of the judiciary had been “sanctioned for defending the rule of law and pursuing accountability, and that their systems had been subjected to cyberattacks aimed at undermining their credibility.”
“These are not isolated incidents, but deliberate attacks on the court aimed at weakening the rule of law and undermining the credibility of international institutions,” he said.
His remarks came during parliamentary deliberations on the ICC’s annual report, which includes sanctions imposed by the United States on the agency’s judges and prosecutors in February last year in response to arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges. The ICC also extended these orders to several leaders of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
ICC President Justice Tomoko Akane told the plenary session that the ICC’s judgment is a reminder to the international community that justice “transcends borders and interests,” but stressed that “the credibility of international law is undermined when judges are pressured, intimidated or undermined.” He lamented that “attacks, intimidation and coercive measures against courts and their staff continue and remain a serious threat to the administration of justice.”
Similarly, Akane stressed that while arrest warrants can only be executed with the cooperation of countries, “courts give victims a voice, space to tell their stories, and hope that the truth will be recognized and responsibility established.”
The United States, which had already sanctioned Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, sought to maintain arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant originally issued by Khan and deemed “unlawful” by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and extended the measure in August to four court officials involved in cases against Israel and Washington. The decision was praised by Israel but rejected by the court itself and the European Union.
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