What is ICC and why has Trump sanctioned it?

Cnn
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Mr President Donald Trump have signed one Executive Order Sanction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and accuses the organization of having entered into “illegitimate and baseless actions” aimed at the United States and its allies, Israel.

ICC, who prosecutes individuals for serious international crimes, has been exposed to the backbone of the United States and Israel over his decision to issue arrest warrants to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister, Yoav Galtant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during humanity during humanity during humanity during Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza.

It also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas -Official Mohammed Deif, whom Israel accused of being one of Masterminds for the attack on October 7. Hamas confirmed last month that Israel had killed him in an air strike last year.

So what is the court, why has Trump sanctioned it and what effect will his decision have?

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, thereby working on economic and travel sanctions that worked with ICC studies of ICC studies of citizens in the United States and its allies.

The US president said the court had “abused its power by issuing baseless arrests” targeting Netanyahu and Gallant. He claimed its actions, “put a dangerous precedent, directly at risk for current and former American staff” and posed an “unusual and extraordinary threat” against national security.

The ICC condemned Trump’s decision and said it is firmly behind its “staff and promises to continue to give justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities around the world.”

The names of the sanctioned ICC staff are not yet public, but those who are targeted – and their families – will not be able to enter the United States. Their assets can also be frozen and their power to buy property blocked.

Trump also said he “expects our allies to oppose” any ICC actions against the United States and Israel without providing further details.

Located in The Hague in the Netherlands, ICC and prosecute investigates individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and crimes with aggression against its Member States, of which there are 125.

Just as a central bank is a lender of the last resort, the ICC is a court in the last resort that steps in to prosecute crimes when the national authorities are unable or unwilling to do so.

Karim Khan, Court’s main lawyer, CNN told in May last year that it was Seeking arrest warrants Three Hamas officials – who have since been killed – and Netanyahu and Gallant over the war in Gaza. Court issued Warrants in November.

Countries that have ratified the court’s Rome statute are obliged to arrest Netanyahu and gallant if they set foot on their land. Because the US – along with China, Russia and others – have not approved the statute, Netanyahu was able to travel freely to Washington, DC, this week, and became the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House in Trump’s second period.

ICC accepted Palestine as a member in 2015, giving it jurisdiction of international crimes taking place in Gaza.

ICC, who prosecutes individuals, differs from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing states. Last year, ICJ steered The fact that Palestinians in Gaza have “plausible rights to protection against genocide” – rights that Israel’s offensive in the strip risked causing irreparable harm. The court too ordered Israel immediately stops its offensive in the southern city of Rafah, which Israel ignored.

Yes. In June 2020, toward the end of his first period, Trump sanctioned Fatou Bensouda, then ICC’s main lawyer and another supreme court officer for undergoing an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan by US armed forces, the CIA and the Taliban.

Trump -Administration then Lambasted “The Kangaroo Court”, which calls it “an unmatched political institution that masks as a legal body.”

However, Thursday’s sanctions are more widely based, both in their rationale and potential effects, experts have warned.

While the earlier sanctions tried to avert an investigation of actions from US troops in Afghanistan, this executive order is “a much more basic rejection of the court itself,” Janina Dill, co -director at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict told CNN.

In addition to undermining ICC symbolically, they have the practical consequences of the new measures “the potential to destroy the court’s work,” she said.

“The court, in order to complete its investigations, needs funding. It needs cooperation between banks, travel agencies, various companies and third parties. If they have to fear sanctions from the United States, it will have a significant effect, ”Dill added.

The United Nations said it regrets Trump’s decision and urged him to turn the move. Khan, the top prosecutor, told CNN last year that the court “will not be deterred by threats” because “we have to fulfill our responsibilities as prosecutors … to something greater than ourselves, which is the belief in justice. ”

The President of the Europe Commission Ursula von der Leyen also said that the ICC must be able to “freely pursue the fight against global impunity.”

However, the European Union does not speak with a voice. Hungarian hard-right prime minister Viktor Orban said that Trump’s decision meant “it’s time for Hungary to review what we are doing in an international organization under US sanctions.”

The sanctions come after Trump welcomed Netanyahu to the White House. After saying he will “Clean” The Gaza Strip, Trump Tuesday revealed a plan for the United States to “Take over” The territory resets the Palestinians who live there and make it a new “Riviera.”

The plan that would constitute ethnic purification and violate international law caused a global diplomatic storm, glad Many to the right flew by politics in Israel and horrified Palestinians.

This combined with the new sanctions sends a signal that the United States under Trump “is moving further from being a supporter of international criminal justice to being a perpetrator of injustice,” Dill said. “It’s really disturbing.”