See the statement on the CICC website.
LRWC is a member of the CICC.
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) condemns in the strongest term possible the US administration’s newest campaign against the ICC. On 13 July 2026, the US State Department announced a new campaign to “dismantle” and “systematically disable” the ICC’s ability to operate. The coercive measures listed in this new campaign include diplomatic pressure and threats, financial pressure, additional sanctions against the Court and affiliated organisations, visa revocations, and efforts to persuade States parties to withdraw their support for the Court.
States parties to the Rome Statute must strongly reaffirm their unwavering commitment to the ICC’s independence, impartiality, and mandate in the face of these new threats.
The ICC was established to ensure that perpetrators of the gravest international crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression, cannot act with impunity. For more than two decades, the ICC has served as a court of last resort for millions of victims, including from the Philippines, Palestine, Sudan, Libya, Ukraine, Mali, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. Hundreds of thousands of victims of the most atrocious crimes are also able to receive reparations through the ICC Trust Fund for Victims in countries where the Court has ordered reparations including in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur and Mali. As ICC Judge Ibanez mentions in the CICC’s report on US sanctions, “our ‘crime’ is to deliver justice in a legal framework for the most defenceless victims around the world”.
This new wave of attack follows the adoption of Executive Order 14203 “Imposing Sanctions on the ICC” in February 2025. That Order led to the sanctioning of the Prosecutor and two deputy prosecutors, eight judges, three Palestinian human rights organisations and a UN Special Rapporteur. Those under attack have remained undeterred and bravely continued their work, and some have fought back, with broader civil society support, through litigation efforts against already-imposed sanctions.
The CICC rejects these attempts to dismantle the ICC and civil society organisations supporting its work. “The ICC’s jurisdiction, procedures and rules are clearly defined by the Rome Statute. Disagreements with the Court’s decisions can only be addressed through legal channels, not through coercion, sanctions, and other attempts to disable an independent judicial institution and organisations cooperating with it”, underlines Alison Smith, Executive Director of the CICC.
The ICC was created because the international community recognised that accountability for the gravest crimes is essential to lasting peace and the prevention of future atrocities. Coercive measures aiming at intimidating the Court, civil society organisations and State parties undermine the shared commitment to justice and the rights of victims across the world.
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court stands in solidarity with the Court, its officials, civil society organisations supporting its work, and all those working to ensure justice for victims of the world’s gravest crimes. We remain committed to defending the independence of the ICC and the integrity of the Rome Statute system. “The Court, sanctioned organisations and individuals, and civil society are resolutely continuing their work”, Smith continued. “As guardians of the Court, ICC States Parties must do the same: that means both rejecting this campaign and continuing their non-judicial oversight and guidance of the Court without heed to these most recent threats.”
State parties to the Rome Statute should:
- Publicly and clearly oppose any initiatives aimed at weakening the Court and attempts to influence prosecutorial priorities, including efforts to sideline specific situations, such as Afghanistan or Palestine.
- Strongly reject any efforts to pressure states from withdrawing from the Rome Statue or preventing further ratifications.
- Continue to engage bilaterally with the United States Administration to call for the revocation of existing sanctions and to prevent further designations targeting the ICC, its personnel, the UN, civil society partners or others cooperating with the Court.
- Immediately adopt and implement national and regional blocking legislation to prevent the extra-territorial impact of the sanctions. In the case of the European Union, the European Commission should immediately activate the European Union’s Blocking Statute (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96).
- Provide legal certainty and protection to service providers by taking a clear and publicly available legal position, through letters or written statements, on the non-extraterritorial application of US sanctions in operations that do not include a US nexus and pro-actively engage with service providers to ensure they continue providing services to those targeted.
- Continue to cooperate fully with the Court in accordance with their obligations under the Rome Statute.
- Find concrete measures to mitigate damage to civil society organisations that have lost funds or are at risk of losing funds due to sanctions imposed by the US administration.
