Joint Statement: Save the Int. Criminal Court and the Rule of Law

22 September 2025. Civil society from around the world urgently calls on States Parties to the Rome Statute to do everything in their power to stop the proposed US sanctions against the ICC, an independent judicial institution with a mandate to confront impunity for the gravest crimes known to humanity. Sanctions against the ICC, taken unilaterally by a non-State Party, amount to an all-out assault on a global court backed by 125 States Parties and relied on by the international community to ensure accountability for atrocity crimes. Such sanctions would leave countless victims abandoned by obstructing a last resort to justice, weaponising the global financial system to choke the Court’s work, and entrenching double standards where power and politics dictate which survivors deserve justice.

Sanctioning the ICC would mark a dangerous turning point in the history of international justice, transforming a system designed to hold the most powerful accountable for atrocity crimes into one that instead shields the powerful. It involves retreating from hard-fought progress toward a rules-based order to a world where might triumphs over right. An international justice system built over decades could crumble in the face of external pressure exerted to unduly influence the course of justice. It is a total affront to the rule of law with devastating repercussions for justice everywhere: if the ICC can be manipulated through financial coercion, no court or accountability mechanism is safe in any country or region.

Sanctioning the ICC as an institution could sever the Court’s ability to function, including its access to financing from banks and states, and block essential services needed to keep it operating. US control over the global financial system ensures the impact of mere threats of sanctions reaches far beyond Washington, as non-American banks, insurers, and service providers often over-comply in fear of themselves being sanctioned, blocking even basic transactions. Without funds, the Court risks not being able to keep the lights on, pay staff, protect data, protect witnesses supporting its work, pay legal aid to victims and defendants, let alone deliver reparations to victims. It threatens core functions of the Court, including the detention of suspects. Hard-won gains, such as the recent arrest and surrender of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and the German arrest of Libyan suspect, Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, could be lost. Ongoing investigations of alleged international crimes in other situations might be stalled or abandoned indefinitely, leaving victims unable to access justice worldwide.

If sanctions render the Court inoperative, there will be no way back. We will have lost forever one of the most relevant institutions of the past century. The global community cannot let this happen.

We call on ICC States Parties to urgently protect the ICC and the Rule of Law by:

• Publicly and firmly rejecting sanctions against the ICC as an institution, its staff and officials, and organisations and individuals supporting its work.
  
• Bilaterally engaging with the US Administration to prevent designations against the ICC as an institution, its staff and officials, and organisations and individuals supporting its work.
• Adopting domestic and regional blocking measures including enforcing the European Union’s Blocking Statute (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96), to demonstrate solidarity and protect individuals and entities from the impact of sanctions and shield businesses within their respective territories so that they can continue to work with the ICC, its staff and officials, and civil society supporting the Court.
• Protecting service providers by guaranteeing that providing services to the ICC and organisations supporting its work is lawful and shielded.
  
• Developing practical alternatives to the US-dollar banking network of transactions that are cleared through the US financial system, so the Court and its supporters can keep funding their essential work.
  
• Providing guidance and creating legal safeguards to prevent non-US banks and service providers from over-complying with threats of US sanctions.
• Fulfilling their legal obligations under the Rome Statute, including financial contributions to the Court’s annual budget, strong political backing to the Court’s independence and continued functioning, cooperation with the Court notably on the arrests and surrender of suspects, and resisting any pressure to disengage in response to sanctions.

Below is a full list of organisations and individuals that have endorsed the statement, presented in chronological order:

1. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
2. REDRESS
3. TRIAL International
4. European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)
5. Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice
6. Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI)
7. Global Initiative Against Impunity (GIAI)
8. International Association of People’s Lawyers Monitoring Committee on Attacks on Lawyers
9. Professor Stuart Russell
10. Robert F Kennedy Human Rights
11. International humanitarian law and youth initiative (IHLYI)
12. A.C. Reforma Judicial
13. Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh
14. Ehsan Qaane
15. Coalition for the Prevention of Hazara Genocide
16. Australian Centre for International Justice (ACIJ)
17. Synergy for Justice
18. Athena Tech & Atrocities Advisory
19. Coalition for the International Criminal Court
20. Centro de Investigación y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos CIPRODEH
21. Mediterranean Centre for Peace and Security (CMPS)
22. Professor Gill H. Boehringer
23. Human Rights Watch
24. Impact litigation
25. ALTSEAN-Burma
26. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
27. Prof. dr. mr. Sergey Vasiliev, Open University
28. Norwegian Helsinki Committee
29. Center for Prisoners Rights
30. Coalition for Genocide Response
31. Anethum Global
32. Platform for Peace and Humanity
33. Manushya Foundation
34. Danya Centeno
35. Flinders University
36. Human Rights Solidarity
37. League for the Defence of Human Rights in Iran (LDDHI)
38. Aged and Disability Advocacy Australia
39. Stop Homophobie
40. Marco Longobardo, Westminster Law School
41. L’Association des Juristes pour le Respect du Droit International (JURDI)
42. Coalition for Genocide Response
43. Dr Ellie Smith
44. BPW Canada
45. Ukrainian Legal Advisory Group
46. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties
47. Zarga Organisation for Rural Development
48. Avocats Sans Frontières
49. Nick Leddy, Legal Action Worldwide
50. Unity Up for Peace and Humanity
51. Ezequiel Jiménez, Senior Fellow, Center for International Law Research and Policy
52. DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights
53. Fannie Lafontaine, Université Laval
54. Baltasar Garzón International Foundation FIBGAR
55. Legal Action Worldwide
56. Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos
57. Kurdish organizations Network coalition for the International Criminal court (KONCICC)
58. Washington Working Group for the International Criminal Court
59. A World Without Chemical and Biological Weapons
60. Kurdistan without Genocide
61. International Community care e.V
62. International Service for Human Rights
63. Nuremberg Human Rights Centre
64. StoptheDrugWar.org
65. Darfur Call
66. Libya Crimes Watch (LCW)
67. Justice For All
68. Ligue pour la Paix, les Droits de l’Homme et la Justice (LIPADHOJ)
69. International Commission of Jurists, ICJ Norway
70. University of Toronto
71. World Without Genocide
72. Comisión de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador
73. Professor Leila Nadya Sadat
74. African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies
75. Organization of the Justice Campaign‏- OJC
76. Kurdistan organizations Network to Abolish Nuclear and Mass Destruction Weapons-KONW
77. Asociacion Pro Derechos Humanos de España
78. Organization Against Weapons of Mass Destruction in Kurdistan
79. Life campaign to abolish the death sentence in Kurdistan Network
80. Anfal storys Organization
81. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Ukraine
82. United Nations Association of Sweden
83. Action pour la Réforme de la justice et la promotion des droits de l’homme (ARJPDH)
84. Prof. Alessandra Annoni
85. Dr Rosalie Clarke
86. Moshé Machover, emeritus professor, Kings College University of London
87. Université Libre de Bruxelles
88. Daniel Machover
89. Rights for Peace
90. Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society
91. Kenya Human Rights Commission
92. Blue House & Partners Ltd
93. Rutgers Law School
94. Adam Rliey, 3 Hare Court
95. Medico international
96. Human Rights Centre ZMINA
97. Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
98. Center for Constitutional Rights
99. Civil Society Institute – Armenia
100. “Viasna” human rights center
101. World Organization Against Torture – OMCT
102. Programa Venezolano de Educación Acción en Derechos Humanos (PROVEA)
103. World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy
104. Zafar Abbas of Averroes Solicitors
105. Students for Global Democracy Uganda
106. Youth Compassion for Humanity Uganda
107. Professor Yosefa Loshitzky, SOAS University of London
108. Dr Joseph Powderly, Leiden University
109. Diane Marie Amann
110. World Federalist Movement/Institute for Global Policy
111. Isaac Kukwa Chiangeh, Universal Foundation On Good Governance And Human Rights
112. International Platform of Jurists for East Timor
113. Vitor Neves, Associação Jurídica do Porto
114. Gabor Rona, Professor of Practice, Cardozo Law School
115. Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN)
116. International Legal Initiative Public Foundation
117. Association France Palestine Solidarité

For individuals and organisations who wish to join our call, you can do so here.

Click here to see the full list of verified signatories.