Source: Amnesty International –
States must firmly oppose the US government’s threats and sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) and protect the Court’s ability to pursue its independent and impartial mandate, Amnesty International said today, on the beginning of the 24th Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute – the ICC’s founding treaty – which runs until 6 December in The Hague.
“ICC member states have to demonstrate their collective resolve to defend the ICC’s ability to pursue individual responsibility, including against the most powerful perpetrators, in independent and impartial proceedings. The Assembly must send a collective message to the USA that its sanctions on the Court, which have specifically targeted ICC officials and Palestinian organizations, must be rescinded,” said Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns at Amnesty International.
“The ICC is facing existential attack from certain states, such as the USA and Russia. The ICC’s member states must not be silent in the face of these threats; they must defend the Court’s independence and its ability to pursue individual accountability, including against those who are most powerful and would otherwise enjoy the prospect of perpetual impunity.
The Assembly must rise to the existential challenges facing the ICC and demonstrate its firm resolve to protect it.
Erika Guevara Rosas, Senior Director for Research, Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns
“Indications that some states in the Assembly wish to use the session to signal that member states are willing to seek ‘engagement’ with the USA over the sanctions it has already imposed, and on the terms set out within its sanctions, are deeply troubling and misguided. The sanctions must be opposed, not appeased.
“It is abundantly clear that the price of the US government’s removal of its egregious sanctions would be for the ICC to halt its Palestine work and potentially to obtain assurances related to the Court’s jurisdiction over non-ICC member states’ nationals. Such concessions would wholly contravene the Court’s foundational principles of independence, impartiality and territorial jurisdiction.
“US sanctions on the ICC negatively impact the interests of victims, who look to the Court for justice in all the countries where it is conducting investigations, from Darfur to Libya, the Philippines, Palestine, Ukraine and Venezuela. The Assembly must rise to the existential challenges facing the ICC and demonstrate its firm resolve to protect it and the rights of all victims whose prospects of justice depend on the Court.”