EU rejects Trump administration push to dismantle International Criminal Court

11 ICC officials under US sanctions as Rubio escalates pressure

The European Union on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s assertion that the International Criminal Court threatens US sovereignty, a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a campaign to “systematically disable” the Hague-based tribunal.

Anouar El Anouni, an EU spokesperson, said in a statement that the bloc stands firm in its support for the ICC and that “attacks or threats against the court, elected officials, personnel or those cooperating with the court are simply not acceptable.” El Anouni noted the court’s role in prosecuting perpetrators of genocide and war crimes, adding that “the ICC does not target sovereign states, nor does it constitute a threat to their sovereignty.” The court, he said, “exercises jurisdiction over individuals, perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.”

Rubio announced the campaign Monday in a video and an accompanying op-ed, claiming the court “threatens every aspect of our political and legal system.” He invoked images of US border patrol agents and elected leaders being “dragged before an international court” and tried by foreign judges. The State Department said in a statement that the effort would include pressuring other nations to withdraw from the ICC and imposing “increased scrutiny” on countries that refuse while relying on US assistance.

The announcement marked a significant escalation of a campaign that has already imposed sanctions on 11 ICC officials, including the chief prosecutor and eight judges, since Trump returned to office. Those under sanctions have faced cancelled credit cards, frozen Amazon and Google accounts, and US travel bans.

Countries that could face pressure include Ukraine, where the ICC opened an investigation in 2022 into possible war crimes following Russia’s invasion.

Legal experts said Rubio’s description mischaracterized the tribunal’s authority. The ICC can investigate alleged crimes committed in countries that have joined the court, crimes by citizens of those countries, or cases referred by the UN Security Council. It is designed to step in only when a national government cannot or will not prosecute the crimes itself. The US has not joined the court, and roughly 100 countries have signed agreements with Washington to refrain from surrendering Americans to the ICC.

Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said Rubio was “dressing up his quest for impunity for American war crimes under the label of national sovereignty,” adding that the court is “not claiming jurisdiction over conduct in the United States.” Roth said the move ignores “the sovereign right of other nations to invoke the ICC for crimes committed on their territory.”

A former senior US government sanctions official who spoke on condition of anonymity suggested the administration was acting preemptively to head off potential investigations, describing the campaign as a “pre-emptive campaign against any action the ICC might be considering vis-a-vis Venezuela or elsewhere abroad.”

Rubio cited in his op-ed calls from activists for the court to investigate the administration’s deportation of migrants and US strikes on boats that officials have said were carrying narcotics. Roth said the administration’s concern may extend further, saying Trump “wants to be able to commit war crimes on the territory of countries that have accepted the court’s jurisdiction — that’s what this is about.”