{"id":548943,"date":"2026-07-14T09:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548943\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T09:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T09:26:08","slug":"marco-rubio-starts-campaign-to-dismantle-international-criminal-court-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/548943\/","title":{"rendered":"Marco Rubio starts campaign to dismantle International Criminal Court \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

US secretary of state Marco Rubio<\/a> opened a campaign on Monday to dismantle the International Criminal Court<\/a> (ICC), <\/p>\n

Rubio claimed the global tribunal was interfering with US military and law enforcement operations at the risk of American sovereignty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rubio invoked images of US border patrol agents and elected leaders being \u201cdragged before an international court\u201d and tried by judges from around the world in a lengthy op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we stand idle, all of them will be at the mercy of foreign judges, thousands of miles away \u2013 facing the constant risk of prosecution and even imprisonment for the so-called \u2018crime\u2019 of defending their own country,\u201d Rubio warned in a companion video posted to X.<\/p>\n

The state department plan to \u201cdismantle\u201d the ICC will involve pressuring other nations to abandon the court, according to CNN. \u201cNations that refuse to reject the ICC\u2019s false authority while relying on US assistance are likely to come under increased scrutiny,\u201d an official told the outlet, adding that possible punishments could involve sanctions, travel bans and visa revocations.<\/p>\n

But three international legal experts described Rubio\u2019s remarks as a mischaracterisation of the tribunal\u2019s powers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ICC is not claiming jurisdiction over conduct in the United States,\u201d said Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch. \u201cRubio is dressing up his quest for impunity for American war crimes under the label of national sovereignty, which ignores the sovereign right of other nations to invoke the ICC for crimes committed on their territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The international court, headquartered in The Hague, can only investigate crimes committed in states that are party to the Rome statute, the 2002 treaty that established the ICC. The United States has not ratified the treaty, nor has the court opened investigations into crimes committed on American soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump wants to be able to commit war crimes on the territory of countries that have accepted the court\u2019s jurisdiction \u2013 that\u2019s what this is about,\u201d Roth said.<\/p>\n

At times the Trump administration has celebrated the concept of ICC jurisdiction \u2013 welcoming an investigation into Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine, which is a signatory to the Rome statute.<\/p>\n

The office of the ICC prosecutor, led by Karim Khan, opened an investigation into Israel\u2019s conduct in Palestine, which has consented to its investigations there. The court has issued arrest warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Yoav Gallant, the defence minister, in connection to its war crimes investigation.<\/p>\n

Six weeks into his second term, Donald Trump issued an executive order declaring a \u201cnational emergency\u201d based on what he called the ICC\u2019s \u201cillegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel\u201d. He imposed a raft of sanctions on court officials, including its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, as well as his two deputies and six judges for their investigations into Israel\u2019s conduct in Palestine and US service member activity in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

The International Criminal Court seeks to become the unaccountable arbiter of a new global law \u2014 empowered to prosecute and arrest our citizens at will and existentially threaten American sovereignty.<\/p>\n

We will teach the ICC the full meaning of American resolve. pic.twitter.com\/2egHK1jA98<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) July 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s sanctions regime expanded throughout 2025 by imposing sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, and three Palestinian human rights groups that have been involved in collecting evidence of possible Israeli war crimes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear exactly how Rubio\u2019s latest vow to dismantle the ICC might impact the court\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresumably, we will start to hear from foreign counterparts who are pressured to take action against the ICC,\u201d said a former senior US government sanctions official. \u201cWhen sanctions work well, you use sanctions to reinforce what you\u2019ve achieved through diplomacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rumoured that the Trump administration may sanction the tribunal as a whole, the former official said. \u201cIt gives you the sense that this is a pre-emptive campaign against any action the ICC might be considering vis-a-vis Venezuela or elsewhere abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

If this measure is taken, Americans would not be allowed to work with the ICC and American staff, companies or banks could risk financial penalties or jail time for doing business with the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cRubio\u2019s attack doesn\u2019t just underscore US hypocrisy, but undermines access to justice across the globe, from Ukraine to Sudan, and could amount to obstruction of justice, a crime under the Rome statute in and of itself,\u201d Raed Jarrar, Dawn\u2019s advocacy director, said in a statement on Monday. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the ICC that Rubio is dismantling brick by brick \u2013 but the rules-based international order that grew out of the ashes of World War two.\u201d<\/p>\n