Shona Murray: Rubio's latest assault on the ICC is another troubling sign

US secretary of state Marco Rubio is preying on Europe’s weakness — its own defences — to undermine the work of the International Criminal Court

Earlier this year US secretary of state Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the International Criminal Court ‘brick by brick, if necessary’. File picture: Alex Brandon/AP

The Trump administration’s assault on international law, and its plan to sabotage the International Criminal Court (ICC) advanced another step this week.

European capitals reacted with the usual round of perfunctory statements saying they were ‘standing by’ the ICC after the US slapped sanctions on the president of the court, Japanese jurist, Tomoko Akane.

The US also sanctioned Abdoulaye Saye, one of the prosecutors involved in investigating members of the Israeli government including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who stands accused of crimes against humanity, extermination, and using starvation as a method of war against a civilian population.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio has made several outlandish claims about the court going after innocent US servicemen and women and ‘threatening American sovereignty’, given the US is not a member of the court. But none of it holds up to scrutiny.

The ICC, based in the Hague since 2002, is the only permanent court designed to bring individuals responsible for the worst crimes known to humanity — genocide, mass rape, extermination, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing to justice.

It’s the inheritor of groundbreaking tribunals such as the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia which led to the trial of Serbian president Slobodan Milošević, who died in prison, on charges of crimes against humanity, and genocide. 

The tribunal led to the conviction of Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic — aka — the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’. 

He was found guilty of 10 counts genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity committed by his forces including the genocide in Srebrenica where 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered in 1995.

“We have lunatics and crazies involved in the ICC who are talking about charging members of the US military,” Rubio said at the East Asia summit in Manila in July.

“If people want to be a part of that stupid organisation they can but we’re not going to be a part of it,” he said of the court, which has an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin for his role in kidnapping and forcibly transferring thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia as part of the full-scale invasion.

The latest onslaught by Marco Rubio follows on from sanctions last November and in February when he sanctioned 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor as well three Palestinian organisations. 

Arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former defence minister

It came after the court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

Earlier in the year, Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the court “brick by brick, if necessary”. 

What’s just as chilling is that Rubio knows the US won’t be able to destroy the court alone, especially as European nations largely view it as a symbol, or follow-on from the Nuremberg international military tribunal which saw the trial and execution of some key Nazis responsible for the Holocaust in which 6m Jewish people were persecuted and murdered.

Nuremberg is heralded as a groundbreaking moment where international cooperation and a shared commitment to humanity meant that those responsible for state-sanctioned violence against a group or groups won’t be immune to prosecution.

In response to Europe’s determination to keep the court alive, Rubio is preying on the continent’s weakness — its own defences.

In undermining Europe’s hand, the US State Department has announced several coercive measures designed to pressure members of the court — particularly European states which continue to rely heavily on US security, including the nuclear umbrella amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

He announced the US is increasing scrutiny of nations that “refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance”.

Weakening the International Criminal Court into potential oblivion

Rubio also said he’ll be making “diplomatic calls urging other nations that, like America, that are not party to the ICC to “leverage their diplomatic networks to take similar actions alongside us”, thus weakening the court into potential oblivion.

“Nations that partner with American law enforcement and the US military or that enjoy the benefits of the US security umbrella are called upon to reject the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen,” Rubio said in a statement.

Dutch foreign minister Tom Berendsen said international courts “must be able to freely carry out their mandates” after the measures were taken.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said it “deeply regrets” the move.

But it’s been almost one year since the US revealed its plans to chip away at the ICC. And no action has been taken by the EU or others to shelter innocent lawyers and judges from unwarranted attacks by the US.

Former chief prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, reportedly told a meeting of The Hague of the Rights Forum — a Dutch NGO — that “if the international community does not respond with seriousness, institutional resolve and practical solidarity, the consequences will extend far beyond The Hague”.

“States should create protected banking and financial channels for the court, its personnel, and authorised contractors,” Bensouda told the forum back in May.

“The EU should move to trigger the EU blocking statute,” she said.

Sanctions on ICC judge Nicolas Guillou

French ICC judge Nicolas Guillou was sanctioned by the US in November. He was also involved in the case against Israeli personnel over the war in Gaza. 

He’s described how his life has been torn asunder. He can no longer use major payment services such as Visa or Mastercard, book travel online, or enter the US.

Mr Guillou has spent months lobbying the European Commission to take similar practical action, and prove that it’s serious about defending the court.

The ICC responded saying “when judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk”.

“Threats and coercive measures also impact the ability of victims to seek justice, as they turn to the court when all other avenues have been exhausted.”

All of this in the week US president Donald Trump hailed his friendship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, while the latter is sending thousands more unsuspecting countrymen to assist Putin wage war on Ukraine and Europe.

We have been warned.