United States escalates attack on the International Criminal Court

The United States of America (US) escalating threats on the International Criminal Court demonstrate why international justice must be defended.

The Hague, Paris, 20 July 2026. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) strongly condemns the United States government’s 13 July announcement of a coordinated “whole-of-government” campaign to dismantle the International Criminal Court (ICC). The measures reportedly under consideration—including pressure on States Parties to withdraw from the Rome Statute, expanded sanctions against the Court and organisations that cooperate with it, and additional sanctions against ICC officials—represent the most serious attack to date on the world’s only permanent international criminal court.

This campaign is an attack on victims seeking justice for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. It is also an attack on an institution created by 125 sovereign States to ensure that, when national systems fail, the gravest crimes do not go unanswered.

The 13 July announcement is the latest escalation of a strategy underway since February 2025, when President Trump issued Executive Order 14203, establishing a sweeping sanctions regime targeting the ICC—a regime FIDH and its member organisations condemned from the outset. Ironically, the scale of this campaign underscores the ICC’s significance. Institutions that are irrelevant are not met with coordinated government efforts to dismantle them. The unprecedented sanctions imposed against judges, prosecutors and organisations supporting the Court demonstrate that international justice matters—and that independent investigations and accountability efforts have real consequences.

“The United States claims to be defending sovereignty while trampling it. 125 sovereign States freely chose this Court and entrusted it with jurisdiction over the gravest crimes. Demanding immunity for one country’s nationals is not a defence of sovereignty – it is a demand for impunity,” said Alexis Deswaef, President of FIDH and member of the ICC List of Counsel.

The administration’s decision to target civil society organisations is equally revealing. Human rights organisations and victims’ representatives are not being sanctioned because their work is symbolic—they are being targeted because they support victims in accessing justice, preserve evidence and feed investigations that powerful actors would rather see disappear.

Over the past eighteen months, sanctions have already disrupted banking services, reduced funding for human rights organisations and created a chilling effect extending far beyond those formally designated. Yet despite these pressures, the ICC has continued its work and civil society organisations have continued to document crimes, support victims and defend the rule of law. This resilience demonstrates that international justice is stronger than attempts to silence it.

The United States may seek to weaken the Court, but it cannot dismantle an institution sustained by the collective commitment of its States Parties unless those States retreat from their own principles. This moment therefore presents not only a challenge but also an opportunity: for governments to reaffirm—beyond words— that justice is not optional and that no one is above the law.

FIDH calls on all 125 States Parties to respond collectively by:

– Rejecting any pressure to withdraw from the Rome Statute or weaken support for the ICC;

– Reinforcing political and financial support for the Court;

– Protecting ICC officials, victims, witnesses and civil society organisations from sanctions and reprisals;

– Adopting effective legal and financial safeguards against the extraterritorial effects of US sanctions, including blocking measures;

– Working together through the Assembly of States Parties, the United Nations and regional organisations to defend the independence of international justice.

“If governments believe the ICC and those who support it are worth sanctioning, they are acknowledging something fundamental: accountability matters. The answer cannot be to retreat. It must be to strengthen the institutions that victims rely on. States created the ICC together; they now have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to defend it together,” said Drissa Traore, FIDH Secretary General.

FIDH will continue to stand with victims, the ICC and the human rights defenders who make international justice possible. The campaign against the ICC should not become the story of international justice’s decline. It should become the moment when States reaffirmed that accountability for the gravest crimes is not negotiable.