US sanctions against the ICC: unprecedented assault on international justice 

Press Release – 9 October 2026 

Geneva – Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) unequivocally condemns the United States’ decision to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), targeting the institution as a whole. 

The sanctions announced minutes ago prohibit transactions with the Court and are explicitly intended to “cut off their resources and crippling its ability to operate“, said Secretary of State Marco Rubio. While accompanying US licences allow the Court to maintain certain telecommunications services and detention operations, the sanctions pose a severe risk that the Court will be forced to suspend its wider operations as businesses and other partners will be deterred from supporting its work. These sanctions follow months of escalating US pressure against the ICC, culminating in President Donald Trump’s 22 September address to the UN General Assembly, where he called on all ICC member states to “officially resign” from what he described as a “rogue institution.”

This unprecedented attack on an independent international judicial institution is a deliberate attempt to obstruct international justice. Its consequences will be felt most acutely by survivors of the most atrocious crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. LAW works with survivors pursuing justice through the ICC, including Rohingya survivors and Sudanese women subjected to conflict-related sexual violence. For them, the Court is one of the few avenues capable of investigating powerful perpetrators and recognising survivors’ rights to truth, justice, and reparations. 

“This is an attempt to place power above the law and give those accused of the world’s gravest crimes the protection that victims have been denied,” said Antonia Mulvey, LAW’s Executive Director. “The United States and its current administration are seeking to silence prosecutors, intimidate judges and close one of the few remaining paths to justice for survivors. If powerful governments can disable a court whenever accountability becomes politically inconvenient, impunity becomes the rule and breeds more violence.” 

The timing is particularly egregious. The sanctions were imposed only hours after former ICC judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay received the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize for promoting peace and international law. Her groundbreaking work helped establish that rape and sexual violence can constitute crimes against humanity and genocide. 

“Today, the world has been presented with two irreconcilable visions,” Mulvey continued. “One honours a woman who helped build the legal foundations for prosecuting genocide and conflict-related sexual violence. The other uses economic coercion to weaken the institution entrusted with enforcing those laws. Member states cannot praise international justice in principle while allowing it to be dismantled in practice.” 

LAW calls on all ICC States Parties, the European Union and governments committed to the rule of law to condemn the sanctions unequivocally and demand their immediate withdrawal. In particular, the EU and its Member States must: 

• Immediately add US Executive Order 14203 to the EU Blocking Statute, prohibiting European companies from complying with the sanctions; 
• Provide banks, insurers, technology companies and payment providers with clear legal guarantees enabling continued cooperation with the ICC; 
• Establish emergency and resilience funds to protect the Court, its personnel and affected civil society organisations; 
• Provide the ICC with the financial, technical and operational services necessary to continue its work; 
• Ensure that businesses within their jurisdictions do not over-comply with the US measures. 

Member states created the ICC. They now have a legal and moral responsibility to defend it. Victims’ lives and rights cannot be used as bargaining chips in the political calculations of powerful states. International justice must not depend on the permission of those most determined to escape it. 

For more information, please contact: 

Lucien Christen, Global Communications Manager, [email protected], +41765343816