US sanctions the International Criminal Court itself; the court calls it "an assault on the rule of law"

The United States on Friday, 9 October, imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution — a major escalation after earlier measures against 17 of its judges and officials, BBC, CBS and Al Jazeera reported.

What the designation does

• Blocks ICC property and interests under US jurisdiction and generally bars US companies and individuals from providing funds, goods or services to it, such as banking or software.
• The Treasury issued temporary general licences: a 180-day licence for maintaining operations, plus licences for IT and cloud services, the ICC pension plan and activity related to detainees.
• The State Department said the 180-day window is meant to give the court’s member states time to show “meaningful progress” on US concerns.

“Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, adding that the US still hoped for a diplomatic solution.

The court’s response

The ICC said the measures aim to intimidate those who cooperate with it, called them “an assault on the rule of law” and said it “will not be deterred”. Its president, Tomoko Akane, said it would keep working “with independence and impartiality” and appealed to its 125 member states for resources. The BBC described it as possibly the gravest crisis in the court’s 24-year history.