During a UN General Assembly event Friday, South Africa’s foreign minister Ronald Lamola warned that proposed US sanctions targeting the ICC as an institution rather than individual officials could severely hamper the court’s ability to function. The gathering, organized by the Hague Group—a coalition established in 2025 to defend international law—heard concerns that institutional sanctions would prevent the court from operating independently.
The US has previously sanctioned individual ICC judges and prosecutors, including Judge Tomoko Akane of Japan and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal in August. However, officials now anticipate the US may expand its approach to include secondary sanctions against any entity cooperating with the court, a step that would affect European banks, insurers, and technology suppliers providing services to the ICC’s headquarters in the Netherlands. The Trump administration has been openly critical of the court, with the president characterizing it as “out of control” and Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing it as “corrupt and fatally politicised.”
The Dutch government, hosting the ICC, has taken the lead in opposing potential sanctions. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten told the assembly that international law must apply universally or risk losing credibility entirely. He invoked historical precedent from the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials in defending the court’s legitimacy.
International law experts and legal professionals highlighted the tension between increased reliance on international courts and growing attacks on their independence. Concerns were raised about selective enforcement of international law, with Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu noting that the greatest threat comes not from open defiance but from unequal application of legal standards depending on nations’ political relationships.
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