The decision comes days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to ‘dismantle’ the worldwide court docket.
United States Consultant Ilhan Omar has pushed again towards President Donald Trump’s efforts to “dismantle” the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC), as a substitute introducing a decision calling on the nation to affix the tribunal.
The transfer got here simply days after Secretary of State Marco Rubio pledged to “dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if needed”, utilizing “all of the instruments at our authorities’s disposal”.
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Omar’s resolution, launched on Wednesday, calls on the US to affix the ICC by ratifying the Rome Statute, the court docket’s founding doc.
The decision would additionally put strain on the Trump administration to raise the sanctions and visa restrictions it has positioned on court docket officers.
Omar, a former baby refugee from Somalia, argued in a press release this week that becoming a member of the court docket can be a step in direction of fortifying the rule of legislation around the globe.
“If we actually imagine in human rights and the rule of legislation, we should always strengthen worldwide justice — not undermine it,” Omar mentioned. “America ought to lead by instance and present that nobody is above the legislation.”
However the Trump administration has lashed out on the ICC for its investigations of US and Israeli personnel.
Neither the US nor Israel is a signatory to the Rome Statute, and neither recognises the court docket’s authority. However each nations have been accused of human rights abuses in nations which are ICC member states.
The ICC, as an example, has investigated Israel over battle crimes in Gaza, issuing arrest warrants towards Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024.
A number of specialists, together with on the United Nations, have concluded that Israel’s battle on Gaza was a genocide towards Palestinians.
The US, in the meantime, has been investigated for battle crimes dedicated in Afghanistan following the 2001 invasion, in addition to at alleged “black websites” the place prisoners had been held.
Throughout his first time period and persevering with into his second, Trump has taken motion towards the ICC and its officers to penalise these concerned in such investigations.
Over the previous yr, a number of ICC prosecutors and judges have confronted sanctions, in addition to rights groups which have offered proof in court docket.
On Monday, Rubio took issues additional, accusing the court docket in a video assertion of “waging a battle towards our nation, not with bullets or missiles, however with statutes, compacts and the pressure of so-called worldwide legislation”.
The State Division introduced a “whole-of-government response” to weaken the court docket, saying the administration would work to “systematically disable” it.
Steps into account embrace interesting to nations that associate with the US army and legislation enforcement to “reject the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute American officers and servicemen”.
The announcement additionally prompt “elevated scrutiny of countries that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority whereas counting on US help”, in addition to “elevated sanctions” and journey bans for folks and organisations affiliated with the court docket.
Trump first sanctioned court docket officers in 2020 over the Afghanistan investigation, earlier than former President Joe Biden lifted the measures.
On Monday, Omar criticised Rubio’s announcement as “reckless and harmful”.
“I’ve seen firsthand that impunity breeds extra violence,” she wrote, voicing her help for the court docket’s work. “The ICC is a vital device for justice when victims have nowhere else to show.”
The decision comes as two US advocacy teams sue the Trump administration, arguing that the president’s sanctions have pressured them to cease their constitutionally protected work.
Each teams have provided help for the court docket’s investigation into alleged Israeli battle crimes in occupied Palestinian territory. They are saying their exercise is protected beneath the First Modification of the US Structure.
