US sanctions International Criminal Court, the tribunal created by Rome Statute
The United States on October 9, 2026 imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an institution, blocking its property in the US and banning funds, goods or services to it. The ICC, based in The Hague, was created by the Rome Statute and has 125 member states. The US and Israel are not parties to it.
Syllabus: Prelims · Current Affairs & IR; GS2 · International Institutions
Why it matters
A survivor of a massacre in a country whose own courts will not act has one permanent court to turn to. That court can now lose the companies that supply its software, insurance and other services, because any firm dealing with it risks US penalties. The ICC has no police force of its own and depends on its member states to arrest suspects; it now depends on them to keep it running as well. Chad and Venezuela moved to withdraw in July, after Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The larger question is whether a court built by treaty can hold individuals to account when the most powerful states stay outside it and reject its jurisdiction.
Prelims pointers
- Rome Statute: adopted in Rome on July 17, 1998; in force July 1, 2002. The ICC can try only crimes committed on or after that date.
- ICC crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. It tries individuals; the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
- Jurisdiction: a crime on a State Party's territory, by a State Party's national, or a situation referred by the United Nations Security Council (Darfur 2005, Libya 2011).
- Complementarity: the ICC acts only when national courts are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute genuinely.
- Structure: 18 judges elected for nine years by the Assembly of States Parties; four organs: Presidency, Chambers, Office of the Prosecutor, Registry.
- International Court of Justice: the UN's principal judicial organ; 15 judges; Peace Palace, The Hague; hears disputes between states and gives advisory opinions.
- Not parties to the Rome Statute: India, the United States, China, Russia and Israel.
- The ICC is independent of the United Nations: it is a treaty body, funded and governed by its States Parties.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the International Criminal Court, consider the following statements:
1. It was established by a resolution of the United Nations Security Council.
2. It prosecutes individuals accused of grave international crimes and does not try states.
3. Its seat is at The Hague in the Netherlands.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (b) 2 and 3 only
1 is incorrect: the court was created by a treaty, the Rome Statute, adopted in 1998, not by the Security Council. 2 is correct: it tries individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. 3 is correct: the court sits in The Hague.
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