ICC leaders condemn efforts to erode international legal order

The current and former leaders of the International Criminal Court’s governing body have issued a stark warning: diplomatic efforts to isolate the court could damage confidence in the international legal order itself.

Paivi Kaukoranta, president of the ICC Assembly of States Parties, and seven former presidents made the argument in a joint opinion piece published by the law and policy journal Just Security. They said efforts to persuade member states to leave the Rome Statute, or to encourage non-member states to support measures weakening the court, targeted more than one institution.

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Efforts to isolate the Court diplomatically, whether by encouraging States Parties to withdraw from the Rome Statute or urging non-States Parties to join measures intended to weaken it, are aimed at eroding not only one institution, but confidence in the international legal order itself.

The authors described the ICC as the product of a collective decision by sovereign states to establish rules for prosecuting genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. They stressed that the court was not designed to replace national justice systems, calling it “a court of last resort.”

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The ICC is a court of last resort.

They also rejected the claim that participation in international treaties and institutions necessarily undermines national sovereignty. In their view, states exercise sovereignty when they choose to join such arrangements rather than surrendering it.

The statement came as President Donald Trump’s administration sanctioned ICC judges and officials and pressed governments to distance themselves from the court. The United States, which is not an ICC member, has opposed the court’s cases involving Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and previous investigations involving U.S. personnel. The assembly leaders framed the dispute as a broader choice between a system governed by law and one in which political power determines when international law applies. They urged the ICC’s 125 member states, international and regional organizations, and other supporters to give the court political, legal and practical backing.

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The choice before us is between a world based on the rule of law and one where might decides what is right.