72 nations at UN voice support for ICC in face of US sanctions

Seventy two countries at the United Nations (UN) have declared their “unwavering support” for the International Criminal Court (ICC), after Washington imposed sanctions on two top officials from The Hague-based tribunal probing US war crimes in Afghanistan.

The countries, including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France — traditional allies of the US — in a joint declaration on Monday said that “any attempt to undermine the independence of the Court should not be tolerated.”

“We reconfirm our unwavering support for the Court as an independent and impartial judicial Institution,” said the signatories, all of them countries that signed the Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 2002.

The nations also vowed “to preserve its integrity and independence undeterred by any measures or threats against the Court, its officials and those cooperating with it.”

The countries said sanctions were “a tool to be used against those responsible for the most serious crimes, not against those seeking justice.”

The United States last month imposed sanctions on ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda over her investigation into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division, had also been blacklisted. Pompeo also said that individuals and entities that supported Bensouda and Mochochoko would risk exposure to sanctions as well.

The US State Department also restricted the issuance of visas for individuals involved in the court’s efforts to investigate US personnel.

Back in June, US President Donald Trump issued an executive order to block all property and assets in America of those in the ICC involved in the probe.

Washington has long rejected the ICC’s jurisdiction over US citizens, but the court’s probe of American atrocities in Afghanistan has seen Trump’s administration turn low-level opposition into a concerted campaign against the institution.

Bensouda was in March given the go-ahead by the court to investigate whether war crimes were committed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, the Afghan military, and US forces.

ICC's Afghanistan war crimes probe

The International Criminal Court has decided to launch an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan.

In 2006, ICC prosecutors opened a preliminary probe into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the war-ravaged Afghanistan since 2003.

In 2017, Bensouda asked judges to allow a full-blown probe, not only of the Taliban and Afghan government personnel but also of international forces, US troops, and members of the CIA.

Washington revoked Bensouda’s entry visa last year over the possible Afghanistan inquiry.

ICC opens 3-day hearing on investigation into US war crimes in Afghanistan

The International Criminal Court opens a hearing to overturn a decision scrapping a proposed probe into alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.

The ICC has denounced the US administration for imposing sanctions on the international tribunal’s prosecutor, describing the ban as an attack on international justice and the rule of law.

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