GENEVA (25 June 2020) – 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.