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Reuters

The president of the International Criminal Court said threats facing the institution, including possible US sanctions and Russian warrants for staff members, “jeopardise its very existence”.
Speaking at an annual conference of the court’s 124 members on Monday, President Judge Tomoko Akane did not name Russia or the United States but referred to them as permanent members of the UN Security Council.
“It’s clear by any metric, by any benchmark, this assembly is at a pivotal time,” ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said in his speech at the opening of the conference.
“We are facing unprecedented challenges. We see civil society victims, survivors, humanity at large, I think have unprecedented expectations,” Khan said.

Russia issued an arrest warrant for Khan two months after the court in The Hague issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The US House of Representatives in June passed a bill to sanction the court in response to Khan’s request for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief, Yoav Gallant.
“The Court has been subjected to attacks seeking to undermine its legitimacy and ability to administer justice and realise international law and fundamental rights; coercive measures, threats, pressure and acts of sabotage,” the Japanese judge said, adding that more warrants had been issued against court employees.
The ICC is also “being threatened with draconian economic sanctions from institutions of another permanent member of the Security Council as if it was a terrorist organisation. These measures would rapidly undermine the Court’s operations in all situations and cases and jeopardise its very existence,” she said.
While the United States is not a member of the court, the world’s pre-eminent military and financial power could undermine the ICC diplomatically and politically and with financial sanctions targeting its staff.
She said the court firmly rejects any “attempt to influence (its) independence and impartiality. We resolutely dismiss efforts to politicise our function. We have and always will comply only with the law, under all circumstances.”

The court was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
In its 22 years, the court has not shied away from taking on powerful leaders, including Putin, targeted with an arrest warrant last year over accusations his authorities abducted children from Ukraine, which he and Russia deny. On Wednesday, the prosecutor sought a warrant for Myanmar’s military ruler Min Aung Hlaing.
Netanyahu’s warrant marks the first time the court has targeted such a figure as the serving leader of a country closely allied to the rich countries of the West.
The ICC, a court of last resort when national authorities are unwilling or unable to act, has no police force. Countries that have signed its founding treaty are on paper required to detain Netanyahu should he arrive on their territory.
But already several European founding members have publicly said they might not do so. France said Netanyahu is immune; Italy said he might be. Britain and Germany have avoided directly explaining how they would act.
Even the Netherlands, which hosts the court in The Hague, has said there could be circumstances in which Netanyahu might be able to visit, without spelling out what those conditions might be.
Selective adherence by members to court orders to detain suspects poses “a very dangerous escalation, a step towards the unravelling of the ICC statute system as a whole,” said Sergey Vasiliev, a professor of International Law at the Netherlands Open University and a long-time ICC watcher.
“Now the question is about how serious the state’s parties are with respecting the decisions of the court, even in the situation where they do not like the decision,” he said.
Additional reporting by dpa


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International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court building in The Hague, Netherlands. File photo: Reuters

Judge Tomoko Akane. Photo: EPA-EFE

 ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan. File photo: Reuters

Images of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and former defence minister Yoav Galant are seen on the side of a building in Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday with a message in Farsi and Hebrew that reads “Wanted criminals”. Photo: AFP

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv protest against the Israeli government’s management of the conflict in Gaza. Photo: Reuters

The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant for Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing for alleged crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya Muslims. Photo: AP

A Rohingya child walks in a refugee camp at Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Photo: Reuters

ICC warrants put Netanyahu and others in a small group of accused leaders

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel, on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan. File photo: AP

Palestinians in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip gather to receive food at a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis. Photo: Reuters

 In early September, Russian President Vladmir Putin was warmly hosted in Mongolia, an ICC member. Photo: AFP

Filipinos back ICC probe of Duterte’s drug war, but will it sway midterm voters?

Relatives of drug war victims hold photographs of their slain loved ones with placards calling for justice, during a protest to commemorate President Rodrigo Duterte’s final year in office, in Manila, Philippines on June 30, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures as he speaks during the House Quad Committee hearing investigating his administration’s war on drugs on November 13. Photo: Reuters

Christine Pascual, mother of a victim of alleged extra-judicial killing, attends the joint committee hearing of the House of Representatives in Manila, on November 13. Photo: EPA-EFE

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Judge Tomoko Akane says the court has been subjected to coercive measures, threats, pressure and sabotage


Judge Tomoko Akane says the court has been subjected to coercive measures, threats, pressure and sabotage.
