President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday placing sanctions on the International Criminal Court and pledging “tangible and significant consequences” for those responsible for investigations that threatened the national security of the United States and its allies, including Israel.
Here’s an explanation of the court’s mission and why the Trump administration focused its latest executive action on the tribunal.
What is the International Criminal Court?
The International Criminal Court is the world’s highest criminal court, and is located in The Hague, a global center of international law.
The court was set up under a 1998 treaty to prosecute individuals for war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression — defined by the court as “the use of armed force by a state against the sovereignty, integrity or independence of another state.” Countries join the court by adopting the treaty, which is known as the Rome Statute.
Before the court’s creation, the U.N. Security Council established several ad hoc tribunals to prosecute atrocities.
The I.C.C. has 125 members, although a number of powerful nations are not members and do not recognize the authority of the court, including China, India, Russia, the United States and Israel. The U.S. has abstained from membership as a way to prevent the tribunal from being used to prosecute Americans and has argued it would violate the Constitution.
Where does the court have jurisdiction?
The jurisdiction of the court, which is based in The Hague, includes the territories of its member states, regardless of the nationality of the accused.
The court does not have a police force to make arrests and cannot try defendants in absentia, so it relies on member nations to carry out arrests. Global leaders who face charges but whose nations are not members of the court can be arrested if they travel to a member nation, which includes most European countries. Member states are obliged to — but do not always — detain suspects to stand trial in The Hague.
Why has the court been in the news recently?
In November, the I.C.C. issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and Israel’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.
On the same day, the I.C.C. also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas’s military chief, Muhammad Deif. Initially, the court had sought arrest warrants for two other Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but both were confirmed killed before the warrants could be issued. Mr. Deif’s death was confirmed by Hamas last month.
The tribunal faced immediate backlash over the arrest warrants from the United States and Israel.
Why did President Trump issue sanctions against the court?
On Thursday, two days after welcoming Mr. Netanyahu to the White House, Mr. Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the court. The order cited the court’s actions against Israel and “preliminary investigations” into U.S. personnel that “set a dangerous precedent.” But those investigations, aimed at secret C.I.A. prisons in Afghanistan, Poland, Lithuania and Romania, were dropped several years ago.
The I.C.C. condemned the order on Friday, saying the action sought to harm the court’s “independent and impartial judicial work.”
Late last month, Democrats blocked a bill in the Senate that would have punished the court for its actions against the Israeli officials, a direct challenge to the tribunal’s existence. But the Democrats’ objections were not so much a defense of the court’s reach; rather, that the bill was far too broad, and could be used to punish not only a wide range of personnel at the court, but also American companies working with it.
Mr. Trump has taken action against the I.C.C. before. During his first presidency, in June 2020, his administration issued sanctions against international investigators looking into reports of torture, rape and other mistreatment of detainees by Americans in Afghanistan and at so-called black sites in Europe.
Marlise Simons and Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
