As defenders of a rule-based world, we have a responsibility to protect the ICC because it is a crucial common good for humankind. As victims, we defend the ICC because it is our only hope for justice.
Since its inception in 2002, the court has indicted 68 individuals, 33 of which have been tried, bringing justice to some of the civilians who were massacred in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali for over more than two decades. But Ukrainian children deported by Russia’s regime, and victims of atrocities committed in Afghanistan, Darfur, Libya, Myanmar and Venezuela are still awaiting and deserving of justice — as are the Israelis massacred by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023 and the Gazan civilians who are victims of Israel’s war crimes.
The very same U.S. officials who now criticize the ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, had welcomed the warrants that were issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023. At the time, Senator Lindsey Graham, currently one of the ICC’s most outspoken critics, had described these warrants as “an important step for a world order based on the rule of law.”
Indeed, this rules-based world order is a crucial global common good that must be preserved. Justice cannot be two-tiered: It cannot fluctuate according to the geopolitical alliances of the Rome Statute’s 125 signatories.
Furthermore, Europe cannot let the current U.S. administration destroy the EU’s core values. It cannot allow the destruction of the already-too-weak multilateral tools we have in place to protect fundamental human rights. For the sake of victims, as well as ourselves and the protection of our sovereignty, we cannot let the U.S. administration decide whether we — or any country in need — can or cannot launch an investigation, ask for reparations for victims or condemn a war criminal.
Protecting the court from external sanctions and pressure is not just a political choice, it is a legal obligation for all signatories of the Rome Statute, under the Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the ICC, which was adopted at its creation.