International Desk, Oct 9 (EFE).- The United States administration’s decision to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC), on the very day its former judge Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has sparked fierce international condemnation this Friday.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the honor to the South African jurist, who helped establish the ICC two decades ago and served on the independent UN commission on Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories that concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
Following the announcement, US President Donald Trump’s administration announced «additional actions to defend U.S. sovereignty and neutralize the threat posed by the ICC.»
Washington’s decision to place the ICC itself under its sanctions regime follows measures imposed months earlier against 17 individuals linked to the institution, including judges and prosecutors.
In principle, the new sanctions freeze any assets and interests held by the ICC in the United States or controlled by US citizens and companies, while also restricting financial transactions with the institution.
In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order paving the way to sanction ICC officials involved in investigations or prosecutions targeting US citizens or allied nations, specifically citing arrest warrants issued in November 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant.
Neither the United States nor Israel are ICC member states, but the court maintains jurisdiction over specific crimes committed within member territories, including Palestine and Afghanistan.
Although the sanctions coincide with Friday morning’s Nobel Peace Prize announcement for South African jurist Navi Pillay, diplomatic sources in The Hague told EFE earlier this week that Trump had already planned to announce sanctions against the Court as an «institution» on Friday.
Reactions to the sanctions were swift: while the UN, the European Union (EU), the African Union (AU), and nations including Germany, France, the UK, Canada, and Japan expressed firm rejection, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the US decision.
Netanyahu Praises Trump Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Nobel Committee of having «lost its moral compass» by bestowing its «highest honor to a bigot who built her career around inventing and propagating blood libels against the one and only Jewish state.»
He also praised Trump for taking «this critical decision» to sanction the ICC.
ICC denounces «assault on the rule of law»
The International Criminal Court «strongly» rejected the sanctions, warning that the move constitutes «an attack on the rule of law» designed to «disrupt» its operations and «intimidate» ICC personnel.
«It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the Court from doing what it was created to do,» the ICC declared, noting that the tribunal was established under an international treaty and counts 125 member states.
The Court investigates and prosecutes individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression under the jurisdiction granted by its founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the ICC, but the court maintains jurisdiction over certain crimes committed within member state territories, such as Palestine or Afghanistan.
UN and European Union express outrage UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the imposed sanctions and warned of their impact on the court’s ability to carry out its functions, particularly regarding cases referred by the Security Council and signatories to the Rome Statute.
Guterres was «deeply alarmed» by the potential fallout of the US measures on the Court as a whole, according to a statement from his spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.
Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and five other nations voiced their strong opposition to the sanctions.
«As committed supporters of the ICC we regret and strongly disagree with the announcement of sanctions to be imposed upon the Court by the United States,» reads a joint statement issued by Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.
The European Commission expressed readiness «take any necessary measures to enable the Court to carry out its work.»
Meanwhile, the African Union (AU) mission to the United Nations welcomed the Nobel Committee’s decision and congratulated the jurist on winning the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize and for her unwavering dedication to justice and human rights. EFE
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