International Criminal Court faces 'existential threat from the United States' 

International Criminal Court President Judge Tomoko Akane (pictured) has delivered a stark warning to the European Parliament. In a hearing before a joint session of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Committee on Legal Affairs, the President of the International Criminal Court explained the severe impact of Donald Trump's sanctions on the daily functioning of the court, and called on the European Union to intervene to protect the court.

“The court needs the support of the European Union to survive in the next few years,” said Judge Tomoko Akane, explaining that sanctions have already had an impact on banking, insurance and technology services used by the court in The Hague as European companies fear the implications of US sanctions. “US sanctions are wrong and based on false grounds,” said the ICC President who called on the EU to implement its ‘blocking statute’, a measure to protect EU entities from the extra-territorial application of third country laws such as Trump’s executive orders. 

Chair of the Parliament’s Delegation for relations with Palestine, Lynn Boylan (Sinn Féin, Ireland) speaking in the chamber said: “Now more than ever it is essential to stand up for international law because we are seeing unprecedented attacks on the ICC, the ICJ, UNRWA and anyone who stands for international law. The EU’s blocking statue is critical and must be activated. If the EU is not prepared to stand up and defend international law, its credibility will be in tatters and this has an impact on every single citizen.”

MEP Isa Serra (Podemos, Spain) added: “Netanyahu, with the support of Trump, has once again murdered hundreds of people, carrying on the genocide and breaching every facet of international law. We must support the ICC and international law on every front. The EU must break its Association Agreement with Israel, which continues to fund a genocide.”

MEP Arash Saeidi (La France Insoumise, France) said: “The powerful have always wanted to instrumentalise justice for their own ends but international law is not just for our allies and friends. States must not be able to pressure the International Criminal Court. A world with an international rules based order is better than a world of power struggles between states.” 

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