Shona Murray: The US wants to disable the International Criminal Court, we should be terrified
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has announced a "whole of-government response to systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials'. File photo: Mandel Ngan/AP
This week the US secretary of state Marco Rubio stated it is official policy of the Trump administration to dismantle the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He announced a "whole of-government response to systematically disable the ICC’s ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials," he said.
Rubio claims it's necessary because the ICC — with its team of world-renowned human rights and international humanitarian law experts — had the temerity in the past to investigate US servicemen and intelligence officers.
It has also "since refused to close these cases." Lest there ever be any attempt for US soldiers to be held to account for potential breaches of the laws of war.
Rubio added: "The ICC now seeks to become the unaccountable global arbiter — positioning itself above and beyond the nation state as a supranational enforcement arm of a globalist bureaucracy," which seems like MAGA talk for an international body that seeks to arrest and try those responsible for war crimes the US wants to protect.
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This language and the subsequent coercive action that the US intends to take in stripping the court should terrify every one of us.
It's impossible to overstate how pivotal and historical the creation of the ICC was for the pursuit of international criminal justice. And moreover, in the fight to see those responsible for the most heinous atrocities known to mankind personally brought to justice.
Although it was a separate court, the lineage of the ICC comes from an earlier iteration in the ICTY — the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. A groundbreaking court that changed how the international community responded to grave breaches of international humanitarian law.
It was this court that delivered former president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević to trial and prison, marking a turning point for victims and survivors of war crimes. And proving that a person in high office would not be safe from prosecution.
It was also supposed to be a deterrent for future villains; for them to know that the courts would track them down, given that Milošević was the first head of state to face such a system.
Years later the ICTY delivered other notorious war criminals including Bosnian Serb politician, and first president of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić, who was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity in Srebrenica — the 31st anniversary of which took place a week ago on July 11.
The ICTY which took place in the Hague held the trial of General Ratko Mladic, the so-called "Butcher of Bosnia", more than 17 years after the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, committed over three and a half years in Bosnia and Herzegovina — including the siege of Sarajevo, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement throughout the territory, and genocide of 7000 Muslim boys and men in Srebrenica.
The success of these cases, and other ad hoc tribunals like the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) created in 1994 to try perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide led the world to believe that as an international community it was possible to assist states to pursue those responsible for mass atrocities or indeed hold the trials in the Hague if national courts weren't able.
Since its inception and entering into force in July 2002, the ICC has gone on to imprison Congolese war lords like Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, convicted of recruiting and using child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is awaiting trial as a co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder, allegedly committed in his country under his leadership.
The ICC had previously issued two warrants for the arrest of former president Al-Bashir in connection with international crimes allegedly committed in Darfur, Sudan. Sudan is the world’s most forgotten humanitarian scourge.
The markings of genocide and crimes such as rape, and other crimes against humanity are happening with impunity. Totally ignored by the international community seeking to pursue vested interests with the UAE — one of the chief protagonists of the war.
With Sudan in a constant state of conflict, the ICC is simply the only place where those responsible will ever see justice.
And then there's the outrage expressed by the US over the ICC's arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Netanyahu and former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
The two are wanted by the Hague court for using starvation as a method of war, crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
The US has already imposed punitive sanctions on European justices at the ICC for merely doing their job and concluding the actions by Israeli leaders meet the threshold of the ICC.
“I am very pleased that the House, in a bipartisan fashion, has approved sanctions against the International Criminal Court for its outrageous conduct against the State of Israel. The court is biased and corrupt when it comes to Israel," the late senator Lindsey Graham said of the sanctions in 2025.
According to ICC Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, Graham raged over the list of charges levied at Israeli officials, insisting the ICC is only “for Africa and thugs like Putin”. Lindsey never denied the claim.
It's worth pointing out that one of the lead lawyers at the ICC in the case relating to Gaza and Israeli politicians is eminent lawyer, Theodore Meron, himself a Holocaust survivor, respected scholar of international humanitarian law and former Israeli diplomat.
Already, the US, Russia and China don't accept the court's jurisdiction. There is almost no chance of any US officials ending up at the Hague. Rubio's attack on a critical arm of international justice is deeply alarming, especially at a time of utter lawlessness and disregard for international laws and norms.
For one, there will hopefully come a time when this travesty of a moment requires the institutional offices and infrastructure required to charge and bring to trial the growing number of state and non-state actors wreaking devastation on the world in Palestine, Sudan, the US, Iran, Yemen, Afghanistan and more.
The ICC was set up for this, albeit it requires the rest of the world to properly fund it and defend it.
In response to Rubio's plan, an EU spokesperson said, "we are strongly committed to international criminal justice and the fight against impunity".
"Attacks or threats against the court-elected officials, personnel or those co-operating with the court, are simply not acceptable," EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said.
Let's see how serious this is.
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