Initiative
Oppose Sanctions Against the International Criminal Court,
Safeguard Victims’ Access to Justice
01/01/2025
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court and more than 150 of its member non-governmental organisations and coalitions from around the globe strongly oppose efforts by the United States of America (US) to impose sanctions related to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and urge ICC member states to defend the ICC, its officials, and those cooperating with it from measures aimed at undermining the court’s vital mandate for justice.
The ICC is an independent judicial institution tasked with delivering justice to victims of serious international crimes when they have nowhere else to turn. It is a critical court of last resort supported by 125 member countries and operating in more than 16 countries across the globe.
US sanctions could severely affect the ability of the ICC to fulfil its crucial mandate in all situations where it operates. Financial institutions and other operators may pre-emptively refuse to deal with transactions involving the ICC, effectively crippling the court’s ability to do its job. These sanctions would likely impact victims, legal representatives and civil society organisations, who could face consequences for their support of justice before the ICC, ending essential work for victims’ access to redress for the worst crimes.
Sanctions against the ICC will impede victims’ access to credible and independent justice and are an affront to victims and survivors globally. Sanctions will see the US engaging in the same kind of obstruction carried out by the Russian Federation in retaliation for the court’s arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. This included arrest warrants against the ICC prosecutor and judges, as well as a law criminalising cooperation with the court. Sanctions are a tool to be used against those responsible for the most serious international crimes, not against those seeking justice.
Our organisations call on the United States to cease any effort, including through sanctions, to derail the ICC’s independent judicial processes, and commit to supporting access to justice for all victims and survivors of serious international crimes, including before the ICC.
ICC member countries, ICC and Assembly of States Parties (ASP) officials, regional organisations, UN experts, and civil society have come together to defend the court against politicised interference and obstruction. But more needs to be done to protect the court and ensure that it can continue its work undeterred.
Our organisations call on the ICC’s 125 member states in every region of the world to:
Publicly condemn the use of sanctions to undermine the ICC and express strong, unconditional commitment to the ICC and its critical global mandate;
Call on the United States to cease any efforts to undermine the court’s independence and essential work, while encouraging the United States to join the ICC and fully support victims’ access to justice;
Cooperate fully with the ICC to consistently support the court’s work across all situations where the court acts, and call on all other relevant actors to do the same. This should include the execution of all the court’s decisions and requests, in particular pending arrest warrants, as well as harmonising domestic legislations with the Rome Statute, ratifying and implementing the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court (APIC), and signing all relevant cooperation agreements with the ICC (for example, on the protection of witnesses and victims; the release of persons, including interim release; and the enforcement of sentences);
Adopt and/or implement national and regional blocking statutes, such as the European Union (EU) blocking statute, that aims to shield European operators from the effects of extraterritorial sanctions. Blocking statutes and similar instruments can provide the Court and its partners with essential protection and send a powerful message that ICC member countries will not tolerate efforts to undermine the Court;
Adopt any other protective measures at the domestic, regional or international level, and engage with domestic and regional service providers to ensure that they will continue working with the Court;
Adopt and implement measures and national frameworks to protect those cooperating with and supporting the court, including civil society organisations and human rights defenders.
Signatories
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and:
A world without chemical and biological weapons-www
Action des chrétiens activistes des droits de l’Homme à Shabunda (ACADHOSHA)
Action pour la réforme de la justice et la promotion des droits de l’homme (ARJPDH)
Afghanistan Transitional Coordination Group
African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies
African Federation Association
African Network for International Criminal Justice (ANICJ)
Afrique pour la Justice
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Al-Haq
Al-Haq Europe
Amnesty International
Arab Centre for independence of judiciary & legal profession (ACIJLP)
Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos
Asia Justice Coalition (AJC)*
Asociación Americana de Juristas
Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH)
Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos de España
Association française pour la promotion de la compétence universelle
Ateneo Human Rights Center
Atrocities Watch Africa
Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ)
Avocats Sans Frontières (Belgium)
Bureau d’études et de réflexions pour le bien-être des Communautés/ BERCO
Canadian Partnership for International Justice
CDN/Colombes de la Nature
Center for Civil Liberties
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Development of International Law
Center for International Law (CenterLaw)
Center for Justice and Accountability
Center for Truth and Justice
Centro de Investigación de Crímenes Atroces, A.C.
Centro de Investigación y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CIPRODEH)
Centro de Justicia y Paz (Cepaz)
Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center
Citizens for Global Solutions (CGS)
Civil organization “Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group”
Civil Rights Defenders
Civitas Maxima
Club des amis du droit du Congo
Coalition Burundaise pour la CPI
Coalition for the Prevention of Hazara Genocide
Coalition française pour la Cour pénale internationale (CFCPI)
Coalition Guinéenne pour la CPI
Coalition Nationale pour la Cour pénale internationale de la République Démocratique
du Congo (CN-CPI/RDC)
Coalitions de l’Afrique Francophone pour la CPI
Colombian Commission of Jurists
COMPPART Foundation for Justice and Peacebuilding
Darfur Call
Darfur Network for Human Rights (DNHR)
Defense for Children International – Palestine
Democracy Development Foundation
Democracy Without Borders-Kenya
Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past
Dynamique chrétienne pour la défense des droits humains et de l’environnement,
DCDHE
European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
Femmes Solidaires pour la Paix et Développement
Fondation Congolaise pour la promotion des Droits humains et la Paix
Foro Penal
Foundation Sunflowers
Front de Lutte contre la Pauvreté et les Crimes (FROLUPAC)
Fundación Internacional Baltasar Garzón –FIBGAR
Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
Global Justice Center
Global Rights Compliance
Help Not Handcuffs, Inc.
Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly Vanadzor
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
Hrvatski helsinški odbor za ljudska prava/Croatian helsinki commitee for human rights
Human Rights Activists (in Iran)
Human Rights Agenda Association
Human Rights Association (İHD)
Human Rights Center ZMINA
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
Humanitarian Law Center
International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)
International Centre of Justice for Palestinians
International Commission of Jurists
International Commission of Jurists Norway (ICJ Norway)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
Just Access e.V.
Justice Call
Kenya Human Rights Commission
Kurdish organizations Network coalition for the International Criminal court
(KONCICC)
Kurdistan without Genocide
Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy
Lawyers for Justice in Libya
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Le Centre Marocain pour la loi et la paix
Legal Action Worldwide
Libya Crimes Watch (LCW)
Life campaign to abolish the death sentence in Kurdistan
Ligue Burundaise des droits de l’homme Iteka
Ligue pour la Paix, les Droits de l’Homme et la Justice (LIPADHOJ)
Ligue pour la Promotion et le Développement Intégral de la Femme et de l’Enfant
(LIPRODIFE)
MADRE
Media Initiative for Human Rights
Medical Action Group
Mnemonic
Netherlands Helsinki Committee
Network Against Killings in the Philippines (NAKPhil)
Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court (NCICC)
No Peace Without Justice
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Nürnberger Menschenrechtszentrum
Open Society Justice Initiative
Organization Against Weapons of Mass Destruction in Kurdistan
Organization of the Justice Campaign – OJC
Parliamentarians for Global Action
People’s Empowerment Foundation (PEF)
Philippine Coalition for the International Criminal Court ( PCICC)
Physicians for Human Rights
Platform for Peace and Humanity
Programa Venezolano de Educación- Acción en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA)
Protection of Rights without Borders NGO
Public Committee against Torture in Israel
REDRESS
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) / Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF)
Réseau Equitas Côte d’Ivoire (REQCI)
Rights for Peace
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
StoptheDrugWar.org
Students for Global Democracy Uganda
Sudan Social Development Organization (SUDO)
Sudanese Women’s Rights Action
Swedish Foundation for Human Rights
Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
Syndicat de la magistrature (France)
Synergy for Justice Stichting
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
The Arab Coalition for the International Criminal Court (ACICC)
The Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical rehabilitation of Torture Victims
(GCRT)
The Global Institute for the Prevention of Aggression
Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)
TRIAL international
Truth Hounds
Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union
Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group
United Nations Association of Sweden
UpRights
Vision GRAM- International
Wereld Federalisten Beweging Nederland
Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice
World Jurist Association Human Rights Institute
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
World Without Genocide
Youth for Peace and Dialogue Between Cultures
Zarga Organisation for Rural Development
*This does not reflect the views or positions of all AJC members.