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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been in the news in recent weeks like never before. And, as its big yearly meeting kicks off today, the institution is under unprecedented pressure.
The annual session of the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties (ASP) takes place in The Hague this week. This is the gathering of the court’s 124 member countries – those that have signed up to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC. They’ll discuss various issues concerning the court, its direction, and difficulties, as well as its all-important budget for next year.
Looming over all the deliberations, no doubt, will be the extreme pressure the ICC has been facing after judges issued arrest warrants last month for senior Israeli leaders as well as a Hamas official in the Palestine investigation.
The court is currently operating in 16 countries around the globe, but this is the investigation that gets most attention internationally – the arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in particular.
In the wake of the arrest warrant decision last month, disturbing threats have come from lawmakers in the US, which is not an ICC member. US Senator Lindsey Graham called for the US Senate and President Joe Biden to enact a bill passed by the House of Representatives on June 4, aimed at imposing sanctions against the ICC, its officials, and those supporting its work.
The bill is modeled on a sanctions program put in place by then-US President Donald Trump in 2020.
We’ve also seen some wobbling of support for the court and its mission from ICC member state France.
If there’s an ICC arrest warrant outstanding on someone, all ICC member states are obligated to arrest them. Last week, however, the French government apparently claimed Netanyahu has immunity from arrest as the head of state of a country that is not a member of the ICC.
ICC judges have rejected this view before, most recently in relation to ICC-fugitive Vladimir Putin’s travel to Mongolia, which as an ICC member country, had an obligation to arrest him, but didn’t.
Of course, when it comes to the ICC arrest warrant for Putin, in relation to Russia’s mass abduction of children in Ukraine, countries like the US and France have been rightly supportive of the court. The West’s double standard is obvious to the entire world. As we’ve said many times before:
If you only care about war crimes when your enemies commit them, then you don't really care about war crimes.
Pressure on the ICC doesn’t just come from “the West.” In response to the ICC arrest warrant against Putin, Russia (not an ICC member) has issued its own arrest warrants against the ICC prosecutor and some judges.
As the Assembly of States Parties kicks off today, all these many pressures will be weighing on the minds of those taking part. ICC members need to take this opportunity to redouble their support for the court.
This means demonstrating the ICC has the political backing and resources it needs. It also means all member countries should reiterate their obligation to execute the court’s arrest warrants, regardless of whom they target.
The ICC has an ambitious global mandate to deliver justice for the most serious atrocity crimes. Victims of those atrocities need ICC member countries to support the court in all its work everywhere.
