US imposes new sanctions on the International Criminal Court

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced measures against the International Criminal Court on the day former judge Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump announced new sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). Reuters and the Associated Press reported that the measures target the court as an institution and bar U.S. companies and individuals from doing business with it. Existing ties are to be wound down over a six-month period.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington considers the court a threat to Americans and Israelis. He also urged U.S. allies, many of which are ICC members, to rein in the court. His announcement came on October 9, the day the Nobel Committee awarded its peace prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay.

Pillay served as a judge on the ICC Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008. The Nobel Committee cited her work to promote international law. The court had not publicly commented on the new sanctions. Its Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan condemned the measures in remarks to Reuters and said they would not stop the court’s work.

Washington has long criticized the ICC, including over its arrest warrants for Israeli officials and a previous investigation into U.S. military conduct in Afghanistan, which the court closed. The ICC prosecutes war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The Associated Press reported that the new measures widen sanctions pressure the United States had already imposed on individual judges and prosecutors.