- Not to be confused with the International Court of Justice
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization seated at the Hague in the Netherlands. Major countries including the United States and Russia do not recognize its authority. It serves as a neocolonial organization and only targeted Africans from 2002 to 2016. As a result, the African Union condemned the court and the Gambia withdrew.[1]
History
In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush refused to approve the Rome Statute because it could be used to investigate impending war crimes in Iraq.[2] He instead passed the Hague Invasion Act and threatened to use military force against the ICC to prevent the prosecution of U.S. soldiers for war crimes.[1]
Donald Trump placed sanctions on ICC investigators and pressured them to drop investigations into U.S. torture programs in Afghanistan.[2] In 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the ICC for investigating Israeli war crimes against Palestine, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the ICC anti-semitic.[1]
In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin for alleged deportation of children to Russia during the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Karim A. A. Khan, a British lawyer, approved the warrant.[2] Neither Russia nor Ukraine is a member of the ICC.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Ben Norton (2023-03-29). "US threatened to invade International Criminal Court. Now it loves ICC for targeting Putin" Geopolitical Economy Report. Archived from the original on 2023-03-29. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Joseph Kishore (2023-03-18). "ICC issues arrest warrant against Putin as part of US-NATO propaganda campaign for regime change" WSWS. Retrieved 2023-03-18.