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international criminal court
Mexico Leads 59 Nations Defending ICC Against 'Unacceptable' Trump Sanctions
One observer asserted that Washington's sanctions against the tribunal "have nothing to with US interest and everything to do with upholding Israeli impunity as it commits genocide."
Nov 14, 2025
Mexico this week led 59 United Nations member states in affirming their support for the International Criminal Court and—without mentioning US officials by name—decrying their sanctions against ICC judges in retaliation for efforts to prosecute Israeli leaders for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The Mexican mission to the UN delivered a letter reaffirming the 59 nations' "continued and unwavering support for the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the ICC," the Hague-based tribunal that is the world's only permanent court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression.
"We express our deep concern over recent measures sanctioning ICC officials, staff, and those cooperating with the court," the letter continues. "Such measures erode the international rule of law, constitute an unacceptable interference with judicial independence, undermine ongoing investigations, and threaten the global fight against impunity."
In February, US President Donald Trump accused the ICC of engaging in "illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel" and ordered "tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members."
This, after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—who in October 2023 ordered the "complete siege" of Gaza that has caused famine and illness to spread—and three Hamas members, since killed by Israel, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. In the case of Netanyahu and Gallant, these include murder and forced starvation.
Israel and the United States vehemently reject the ICC charges. The US—which, like Israel, is not party to the Rome Statute governing the ICC—has ignored the warrants. The White House and US lawmakers have welcomed the two fugitive Israelis as they traveled unimpeded to the United States.
In June, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions targeting the four ICC judges who authorized arrest warrants for Netanyahu and who green-lighted an investigation into torture allegations against American troops in Afghanistan. This, despite ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan's exclusion of US forces from the Afghanistan probe, which focused only on alleged Taliban and Islamic State crimes.
As Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft executive vice president Trita Parsi said Friday in response to the letter, "US sanction[s] against the ICC have nothing to with US interest and everything to do with upholding Israeli impunity as it commits genocide."
The 59 countries' letter denounces the sanctions, which "violate both the letter and the spirit of the Rome Statute and consequently place victims, witnesses, and court officials, many of whom are our nationals, at risk."
"All states must respect and protect the court's judicial functions and refrain from any coercive measures that would impede the court's work, impartiality, and independence," the letter stresses.
The Trump administration has also sanctioned other international officials who have condemned Israel's genocidal war on Gaza and US complicity, including Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.
The administration has also taken aim at members of the International Court of Justice, also in The Hague, as they weigh a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa in December 2023. The ICJ has issued several provisional orders for Israel to avoid genocidal acts, allow aid into Gaza, and end the assault on Rafah. Israel has been accused of ignoring all of these orders.
US disdain and animosity toward the ICC is nothing new. During the administration of George W. Bush, the US passed the American Service Members’ Protection Act—also known as the Hague Invasion Act—which authorizes the president to use “all means necessary and appropriate” including military intervention to secure the release of American or allied personnel held by or on behalf of the ICC.
The Mexico-led letter follows other affirmations of support for the ICC and its mission, including statements issued in June 2024 and February 2025 signed by 93 and 79 UN member states, respectively.
Speaking on the same day that Mexico delivered its letter, UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock of Germany condemned sanctions against ICC members as “attacks against the very principles of international law."
“For more than two decades, the court has faced impunity and shown that, even in the darkest moments, accountability remains possible,” Baerbock said. “However, today, while we are witnessing atrocities that continue to shock the conscience of humanity, it is evident that the mission of the court is far from fulfilled.”
“Court officials have been sanctioned for upholding the rule of law and demanding accountability, and their systems have been targeted by cyberattacks aimed at undermining the credibility of the court,” she noted. "These are not isolated incidents, but deliberate attacks against the court with the aim of weakening the rule of law and eroding trust in international institutions.”
The new letter came as ICC President Tomoko Akane delivered the court's annual report to the General Assembly.
“We are only bound by the law and we do not change the course of our actions due to threats, be them political or of another nature,” Akane said Tuesday. “We will continue abiding by our mandate undeterred, with integrity, determination, impartiality, and independence at all times.”
“Let me be very clear on this," she added. "We cannot give up. We will not give up."
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GOP NYC Councilwoman Openly Dares Mamdani to Arrest Netanyahu With New Year's Invite
Despite Mamdani's campaign pledge, legal experts have consistently cast doubt on a New York City mayor's authority to order the arrest of a foreign leader.
Nov 11, 2025
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani may have a chance to fulfill one of his campaign promises on his first day of office, although legal experts have repeatedly cast doubt on his power to make it happen.
Republican New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov on Tuesday sent a formal invitation to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak in New York City on January 1, 2026, while at the same time daring Mamdani to keep his pledge to have him arrested on war crimes charges.
"On January 1, Mamdani will take office," Vernikov wrote in a post on X. "And also on January 1, I look forward to welcoming Bibi to New York City. NY will always stand with Israel, and no radical Marxists with a title can change that."
The International Criminal Court (ICC) last year issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Israel's war in Gaza that has killed at least 69,000 Palestinians.
During his successful mayoral campaign, Mamdani repeatedly said that he would enforce the warrant against Netanyahu should the Israeli leader set foot in his city.
Although Mamdani backed off some of his most strident past statements during the campaign, particularly when it comes to the New York Police Department (NYPD), he doubled down on arresting Netanyahu during a September interview with The New York Times.
"This is a moment where we cannot look to the federal government for leadership," Mamdani told the paper. "This is a moment when cities and states will have to demonstrate what it actually looks like to stand up for our own values, our own people."
However, legal experts who spoke with the Times cast doubt on Mamdani's authority as the mayor of a major American city to arrest a foreign head of government, even if the person in question has been indicted by the ICC.
Among other things, experts said that the NYPD does not have jurisdiction to arrest Netanyahu on international war crimes charges, and the Israeli leader would have to commit some crime in violation of local state or city laws to justify such an action.
Additionally, the US has never been party to the ICC and does not recognize its legal authority.
Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia Law School, told the Times that Mamdani's stated determination to arrest Netanyahu was "more a political stunt than a serious law-enforcement policy."
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ICC Collecting War Crimes Evidence Against Sudanese Militia After Darfur Massacre
The court said the actions of Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, who are backed by a US ally in the UAE, "may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Nov 04, 2025
The International Criminal Court said it is collecting and preserving evidence of war crimes in Sudan's Darfur region following a massacre committed by a militia group and amid reports of widespread starvation.
In a statement published Monday, the ICC—the international body charged with prosecuting crimes against humanity—expressed "profound alarm and deepest concern over recent reports emerging from El-Fasher about mass killings, rapes, and other crimes" allegedly committed by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which breached the city last week.
According to the Sudan Doctors Network (SDN), a medical organization monitoring the country's brutal civil war, the militants slaughtered more than 1,500 people in just three days after capturing El-Fasher, among them more than 460 people who were systematically shot at the city's Saudi Maternity Hospital.
The ICC said that "such acts, if substantiated, may constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute," the court's founding treaty, which lays out the definitions for acts including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
The court said it was "taking immediate steps regarding the alleged crimes in El-Fasher to preserve and collect relevant evidence for its use in future prosecutions."
The announcement comes shortly following a new report from the UN-affiliated Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the world's leading authority on hunger crises, which found that famine has been detected in El-Fasher and the town of Kadugli in Sudan's South Kordofan province. Twenty other localities in the two provinces—which have seen some of the civil war's worst fighting—are also in danger of famine, according to the report.
The two areas have suffered under siege from the RSF paramilitary, which has cut off access to food, water, and medical care. The IPC says it has led to the "total collapse of livelihoods, starvation, extremely high levels of malnutrition and death."
According to the UN's migration authority, nearly 37,000 people have been forced to flee cities across North Kordofan between October 26 and 31. They joined more than 650,000 displaced people who were already taking refuge in North Darfur's city of Tawila.
Sudan's civil war, which began in 2023, has created the world's largest humanitarian crisis, with potentially as many as 150,000 people killed since it began. Over 12 million people have been displaced, and 30.4 million people, over half of Sudan’s total population, are in need of humanitarian support.
The recent escalation of the crisis has led to heightened global scrutiny of RSF's chief financier, the United Arab Emirates. In recent days, US politicians and activists have called for the Trump administration to halt military assistance to the Gulf state, which it sold $1.4 billion in military aircraft in May.
On Tuesday, Emirati diplomats admitted for the first time that they "made a mistake" supporting the RSF as it attempted to undermine Sudan's transitional democratic government, which took power in 2019 after over three decades of rule by the Islamist-aligned dictator Omar al-Bashir. Those efforts culminated in a military coup in 2021 and an eventual power struggle for control over the country.
However, as Sudanese journalist Nesrine Malik wrote in The Guardian on Monday, the UAE "continues to deny its role, despite overwhelming evidence."
"The UAE secures a foothold in a large, strategic, resource-rich country, and already receives the majority of gold mined in RSF-controlled areas," Malik wrote. "Other actors have been drawn in, overlaying proxy agendas on a domestic conflict. The result is deadlock, quagmire, and blood loss that seems impossible to stem, even as the crisis unravels in full view."
"Sudan’s war is described as forgotten, but in reality it is tolerated and relegated," she continued. "Because to reckon with the horror in Sudan... is to see the growing imperialist role of some Gulf powers in Africa and beyond—and to acknowledge the fact that no meaningful pressure is applied to these powers, including the UAE, to cease and desist from supporting a genocidal militia because the UK, US, and others are close allies with these states."
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