The United States has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC). “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
However, the ICC has noted the US step as “an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order.”
ICC President Tomoko Akane said, “The court will continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes.”
“America never joined the court. We don’t need it. We don’t want it,” Rubio said, adding, “Either the ICC will end its threats, or we (US) will end the ICC.” However, he said, “the door to diplomacy remained open.”
Meanwhile, the UN Secretary-General António Guterres criticised the US decision on ICC.
“The UN remains committed to cooperating with the ICC under the relationship agreement approved by the General Assembly on 13 September 2004,” stated in a statement of UN SC’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.
