US sanctions on ICC judges ‘profoundly disturbing’, says UNHRC

The US Government’s announcement of sanctions against four judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday has been condemned by Volker Turk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice.

Turk was responding to an announcement by Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, on Thursday, of measures targeting the judges, who are overseeing a 2020 case of alleged war crime committed in Afghanistan by US and Afghan military forces, and the 2024 ICC arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the former Defence Minister.

I am profoundly disturbed by the decision of the Government of the United States of America to sanction judges of the International Criminal Court – specifically four women judges, from Benin, Peru, Slovenia and Uganda“ who had been part of rulings in the situations in Afghanistan or in the State of Palestine,” said Turk, who called for the prompt reconsideration and withdrawal of the measures.

The sanctions, the statement continues, attack the judges for performing their judicial functions, an act which, he said, runs directly counter to respect for the rule of law and the equal protection of the law – values for which the U.S. has long stood.

The statement by Turk follows the ICC’s strongly worded press release on Thursday, describing the sanctions as a clear attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all corners of the globe.

The ICC reinforced its position on Friday with a release from the Assembly of State Parties –the management oversight and legislative body of the court – rejecting the US sanctions which, it declared, risk undermining global efforts to ensure accountability for the gravest crimes of concern to the international community and erode the shared commitment to the rule of law, the fight against impunity, and the preservation of a rules-based international order.