MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US sanctions the International Criminal Court hours after a former judge wins the Nobel Peace Prize

Pillay, 85, sat on the court’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008, presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014

Donald Trump’s administration on Friday imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution, hours after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former judge of the court, “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”.

“President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate.” The sanctions cut the court off from the US financial system and extend to those who work with it. Until now, Washington had sanctioned 13 of its judges and prosecutors. Rubio said the measures were designed to give the court and its member states time to address US concerns, and warned that if allies do not “rein in” the court, the United States will continue “its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick”.

The Hague-based court called the decision “an attempt to obstruct the course of justice” and “an attack on the rule of law and the very foundations of the international legal order”, in a statement signed by its president, Tomoko Akane, sanctioned by Washington in August. The European Union called it “deeply regrettable”, said it would work with the court to ensure it keeps functioning and hoped there was room for dialogue before the sanctions take effect in six months. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against whom the court issued an arrest warrant in 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, congratulated the United States and called the court “a political body”.

Pillay, 85, sat on the court’s Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008, presided over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. The Nobel Committee presented the award as a message to those seeking to undermine international legal institutions. Pillay dedicated it to survivors of international crimes.

Trump has repeatedly said he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. The 2025 laureate, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, gave him her medal at the White House in January.

More than 120 states are party to the Rome Statute, including every country in South America. The United States is not.