The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and more than 120 organizations from over 60 countries, along with dozens of legal experts, human rights defenders, and members of the European Parliament, unequivocally and in the strongest possible terms condemn the United States' decision to impose unlawful sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC). This unprecedented measure constitutes a direct attack on the rule of law, the Court's independence, and international justice, jeopardizing the rights of millions of victims and survivors of mass crimes worldwide.
The ICC has demonstrated remarkable resilience by resolutely continuing its mandate in the face of attacks. States Parties must now defend the Court they themselves created and protect those who cooperate with it. Convictions alone are not enough; coordinated action is urgently needed to safeguard the Court's ability to continue functioning.
On October 9, 2026, the United States announced the imposition of sanctions targeting the ICC as an institution on the basis of Presidential Decree 14203. These sanctions represent the most serious escalation in a campaign waged continuously by the United States, whose stated objective is to dismantle the ICC. «"brick by brick"», on the grounds that it investigated crimes allegedly committed, on the territory of a State Party, by American nationals or their allies, in particular Israeli nationals.
Under the Rome Statute, the Court can exercise its jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory of a State Party, regardless of the nationality of the alleged perpetrator.
Since February 2025, the Trump administration has imposed sanctions against the former ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan ; of the two deputy prosecutors ; of the ICC president and eight others judges ; of a staff member also a candidate in the judicial election; of a United Nations Special Rapporteur ; as well as three Palestinian organizations human rights advocacy.
These measures aim to undermine the entire system established by the Rome Statute and to prevent investigations into international crimes and the prosecution of perpetrators.
Presidential Executive Order 14203 prohibits “U.S. persons” from providing material support or services to designated individuals and entities, including financial services, and exposes “non-U.S. persons” to the risk of secondary sanctions for engaging in conduct prohibited by the order. U.S. persons who violate these provisions are subject to criminal penalties of up to 20 years imprisonment and fines of up to one million U.S. dollars, as well as civil penalties.
Although the executive order provides a six-month grace period and exemptions for certain types of services, significant risks remain. Given the world's reliance on U.S. financial and IT systems, non-U.S. service providers, including banks, might cease providing services to the ICC for fear of sanctions or retaliation from the U.S. Treasury. This could affect the Court's ability to maintain a bank account, receive financial contributions from States Parties, make payments, pay its staff, and ensure the continuity of its essential operations.
The Netherlands, as the host State, and all States Parties, have a responsibility to ensure that the Court maintains access to the services essential to its operation. The Court must be able to carry out its functions, including investigating alleged crimes, holding hearings, protecting victims and witnesses, and providing legal assistance.
For victims, survivors, and witnesses in more than a dozen countries around the world under investigation by the court, the consequences could be far-reaching. Many have waited years for justice, have testified, and have placed their trust in the ICC, which they see as a last resort for obtaining justice. Any disruption to the ICC's mandate and operations risks hindering their right to justice. This threatens to undo decades of progress in combating impunity and achieving justice, depriving victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide of any real prospect of access to justice, reparations, and the establishment of truth.
The sanctions are already hindering efforts in favor of justice. The three Palestinian NGOs designated for their cooperation with the Court immediately lost access to their bank accounts, funds, IT services, and partners, hindering their activities. But the harm is not limited to the individuals and entities targeted: the sanctions have had a chilling effect and damaged the freedom of expression and association on a global scale. Sanctions targeting the Court as an institution risk exacerbating this effect. Ultimately, it is the victims, their families, and survivors who will pay the heaviest price.
The United States, which is not a party to the Rome Statute, is openly attacking the world's only permanent international criminal court by resorting to measures that exploit its position within the global financial system. If the 125 States Parties to the Rome Statute allow these attacks to undermine the Court's ability to function, the consequences will extend far beyond the ICC and threaten the rule of law, state sovereignty, and judicial systems at the national, regional, and international levels.
Declarations and condemnations are no longer a sufficient response to this attack. A coordinated response from States Parties can no longer wait. Three decades ago, States pledged that no one, regardless of their power, would be immune from accountability for international crimes. Victims and survivors have waited for decades for a Court capable of delivering justice regardless of the power or nationality of the perpetrators of these crimes, and today the ICC is under unprecedented pressure precisely because it seeks to apply the law equally to all. States Parties created the Court and have a duty to preserve its independence and functioning. The absence of a firm response risks weakening the international justice system that States have committed to defending.
The Coalition calls on all States Parties, individually and collectively, to:
- To denounce publicly, unequivocally, with the utmost firmness and at the highest political level, institutional sanctions targeting the ICC and the individuals and organizations that cooperate with it, characterizing them as an unlawful attack on judicial independence, the rule of law, and victims' rights.
- Adopt or activate immediate blocking measures at national and regional levels, in particular by adopting without delay the European Union blocking regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96) and equivalent national legislation in other countries, in order to protect the designated persons and entities — including the Court, the United Nations Special Rapporteur and civil society organisations — against the extraterritorial effects of these sanctions.
- To guarantee the Court and all those who cooperate with it access to banking and other essential services, particularly in:
- Providing legal certainty to service providers by adopting a clear legal position on the non-extraterritorial application of sanctions and by making it public through letters or written statements.
- Proactively and regularly engaging in dialogue with banks, financial institutions, IT companies and other service providers, in order to reaffirm the illegality of the sanctions, to clarify that they should not be applied extraterritorially, to reject excessive compliance or risk reduction strategies and to put an end to automatic compliance mechanisms or those that outsource this responsibility.
- Ensuring that All the relevant ministries, particularly those responsible for foreign affairs, justice, finance, the Treasury and digital affairs, are coordinating their efforts., including at regional level within the relevant working groups, in order to develop solutions involving all public authorities.
- Apply protection measures and solutions equally to civil society, human rights defenders, and survivors. targeted by sanctions or at risk of being sanctioned due to their cooperation with the Court. All declarations, solutions, diplomatic steps, and funding measures must also benefit both designated civil society organizations and those under threat, without distinction.
- Implement concrete measures to mitigate the effects of sanctions on civic space, freedom of expression and freedom of association.
- Developing and strengthening economic, financial and technological sovereignty and resilience in order to reduce structural dependence on American service providers.
- Explore all possible diplomatic and legal avenues to challenge the sanctions and their legality under international law., in particular by supporting any legal challenge brought in the United States by the designated persons and by referring the matter to the International Court of Justice.
- To reaffirm publicly and forcefully their commitment to the Rome Statute and continue to fully comply with the obligations arising therefrom — funding of the Court, cooperation with it, arrest and surrender of all persons subject to ICC arrest warrants — without exception, delay or selectivity.
- To publicly and clearly oppose any initiative aimed at weakening the Court, in particular to attempts to amend the Rome Statute aimed at restricting its jurisdiction or independence, as well as to attempts to influence the Prosecutor's priorities, including efforts to marginalize certain situations, such as those of Afghanistan or Palestine.
- To reject without exception any form of coercion exercised by a non-party State aiming to influence votes, positions or behavior within the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) or any other body of the system established by the Rome Statute.
- Ensure that the Assembly of States Parties and any ICC-related meetings are held in a country where officials, Court staff and civil society organizations, including those designated, can travel safely and without threat.
