AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): According to Reuters, Päivi Kaukoranta, President of the Assembly of States Parties, along with seven former presidents of the Assembly, emphasized in a joint opinion piece published Thursday in Just Security that diplomatic efforts to weaken the Court could lead to the erosion of the international legal order.
They wrote, "Efforts to diplomatically isolate the Court, whether by encouraging States Parties to withdraw from the Rome Statute or by urging non-States Parties to join actions designed to undermine it, have targeted not just an institution, but trust in the international legal order."
The authors emphasized that defending the International Criminal Court is in fact a defense of the international legal system, a system that, according to them, is one of humanity's most important tools for preventing the spread of lawlessness and impunity.
They also warned that the world faces a choice: "a world based on the rule of law, or a world in which force determines what is right."
This opinion piece comes as the Trump administration has intensified its pressure on the International Criminal Court in recent months, imposing sanctions on a number of judges and officials of the institution.
Last month, the US administration also sanctioned Tomoko Akane, the President of the International Criminal Court, and one of its senior prosecutors. Washington also announced it would increase its efforts to encourage member states to withdraw from the Court.
The International Criminal Court was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. Under its founding statute, the Court can intervene in a case when a state is unable or unwilling to genuinely prosecute the crimes committed.
The United States is not a member of the International Criminal Court, but the Court's actions against Israeli officials, as well as its previous investigations into US forces in Afghanistan, have drawn sharp anger from Washington.
The issuance of an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war, has been one of the most significant reasons for the intensifying dispute between the United States and the International Criminal Court.
Paloma Chacón, a spokesperson for the US State Department, responded to the opinion piece by the ICC presidents, stating that the Trump administration's campaign to restrict the Court's activities will continue.
She claimed that Washington will continue its efforts to prevent the Court's actions against American military personnel and officials, and what the US considers "threats to its sovereignty."
The Trump administration has also announced that it will use travel bans and sanctions against ICC officials and related organizations.
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