The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) said it was not fazed by reports that the US may impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), an independent global judicial institution dedicated to combating impunity for the gravest crimes against humanity.
The US sanctions package is designed to target individual ICC personnel, judges, and prosecutors, classifying it as an organisation threatening the interests of the US government.
According to reports, these measures aim to create conditions allowing the court to independently withdraw its arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The move has sparked fears that the US Congress may target South Africa for its efforts at the ICC to end the genocide in Palestine, where the Israeli government continued to target and kill civilians. Despite the developments, Dirco spokesperson Chrispin Phiri said that only the United Nations Security Council could impose sanctions on the court and held that international law must be respected.
“We believe that the designated multilateral institutions must enforce international law, and undermining these institutions circumvents the basis of international law and its efficacy.
“The only international institution that imposes sanctions is the United Nations Security Council. Bilateral agreements govern other engagements with other countries,” explained Phiri.
On Monday this week, more than a hundred NGOs wrote to Members of the 119th Congress and the incoming Presidential Administration of Donald J. Trump, expressing grave concerns and unequivocally opposing the use of the United States sanctions authority to attack the ICC.
“As has been widely observed, supporting the work of the Court is in the interest of the United States, and sanctioning it, conversely, undermines essential US interests.
“By applying these measures to a court that 125 countries – and on two occasions, the United Nations Security Council – have entrusted with providing accountability for atrocity crimes, the United States has brought upon itself the stigma of siding with impunity over justice.
“At a historical moment when the global rule of law is under attack from multiple fronts, institutions like the International Criminal Court are needed more than ever to advance human rights protections and the universal goal of preventing future atrocities and advancing justice for victims. Instead, sanctions send a signal that could embolden authoritarian regimes and others with reason to fear accountability who seek to evade justice,” read the letter to US Congress.
In 2024, the House of Representatives passed the so-called “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act”, a legislative intent to punish foreign persons who aid, materially assist, or provide financial support for the ICC's efforts to undertake certain investigations and prosecutions.
However, the current Biden administration strongly opposed the bill, and the previous Senate did not vote on it.
The organisations under Human Rights Watch urged other governments, Members of Congress, and advocates for victims to raise their voices to oppose attacks on the independence and autonomy of international judicial institutions such as the ICC.
IOL Politics