In the latest episode of the U.S. moving away from international organisations, the Donald Trump administration on Tuesday (August 18, 2026) announced sanctions on the two senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC), including its President Tomoko Akane of Japan and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a statement, said that the two individuals “directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.

While Mr. Rubio did not mention any specific person or body targeted by the international tribunal, the sanctions are pursuant to the U.S.’s Executive Order 14203 which was issued on February 6, 2025, and cited the ICC’s investigations against and arrest warrants on Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC has deplored the sanctions, calling it a “flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution”.

What is the ICC and how does it work?

An independent intergovernmental organisation headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICC was formed and functions on the basis of the Rome Statute, which was adopted at a United Nations conference in the Italian capital on July 1, 1998, and came into force on July 1, 2002.

The Statute has 137 signatories including the U.S. and Israel, and 125 members. The two allies are not members of the court despite being signatories since they have not ratified the document. Several other major countries, including India, China, and Russia, are also not part of the ICC. The court was established to investigate and prosecute individuals accused of committing serious crimes that concern the international community, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction to try people from its member states and for crimes committed within the territory of its member states.

The court acts only if the state concerned “does not, cannot, or is unwilling” to prosecute individuals. When the court acts against an individual of a country that is not part of Rome Statute, the state may or may not decide to accept the proceedings. But for cases referred to the court by the UN Security Council, the court gets a flexible jurisdiction.

What are the U.S.’s contentions against the ICC?

Mr. Rubio, in his statement announcing the latest sanctions, said that the court has made multiple attempts to assert authority over U.S. nationals and citizens of countries outside the court’s jurisdiction. This, the U.S. Secretary of State said, sets a dangerous precedent.

After the court issued arrest warrant against Mr. Netanyahu in November 2024, accusing the Israeli Prime Minister of being responsible for war crimes in Gaza including using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks on civilians, the U.S. said that the action threatens to infringe upon its sovereignty and undermine national security and foreign policy of the country and its allies.

The U.S. has said that the court was overstepping its jurisdiction in investigating military officials and political figures from countries that are not members of the Rome Statute.

The Joe Biden administration in the White House, when the warrant against Mr. Netanyahu was issued, also rejected the move and expressed concerns over “troubling process errors” behind the decision without elaborating on it.

With the latest action, the U.S. has now sanctioned nine of the court’s 18 judges, both of its deputy prosecutors as well as a former chief prosecutor. Mr. Rubio has also said the U.S. will sanction organisations that work with the ICC and pressure member states to withdraw from the institution. Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro was kidnapped by U.S. forces in January this year, and Chad had announced last month their decision to pull out from the court. This takes the number of countries to announce withdrawal from the court in the last year to five, along with Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

What are the impacts of the sanctions and what are the reactions to it?

Other than restricting the officials from travelling to the U.S., the sanctions will also prevent the individuals from accessing the U.S. financial system, to which most international banks are connected. The sanction will also freeze any U.S. assets held by the officials. The sanctions can have impacts in the daily life of the targeted individuals with the Associated Press quoting Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, who was sanctioned last year, saying that she had lost access to her credit cards and Amazon’s Alexa stopped responding to her.

While Mr. Netanyahu lauded the U.S. sanctions and slammed the ICC as a “kangaroo court”, Japan, home of Ms. Akane and the biggest funder of the ICC, objected to the “very unfortunate” sanctions, saying it has “consistently supported the ICC… to uphold the rule of law”.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed serious concerns over the U.S. sanctions, with a spokesperson saying that the ICC is a “key pillar of international criminal justice”. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, called the sanctions unacceptable and demanded it be lifted while European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the court “must be able to act independently and without external pressure”.

European majors like The Netherlands, which host the court, and Germany have come in favour of the court. While Germany’s Foreign Ministry said the independence of the ICC was “of central importance”, Dutch Foreign Minister, Tom Berendsen, said he has invited Ms. Akane for talks “to discuss our continued support”.

The U.S. sanction is not the first reactionary measure that Ms. Akane, who has been a judge at the ICC since 2018 and its President since 2024, has faced in her career with the ICC. After the court issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin over the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow retaliated and issued its own warrants against senior court officials including the Ms. Akane.

“Even if one judge were to die, we are easily replaceable, so there is really no value in targeting us,” the 70-year-old judge had said after the Russian announcement.

Published – August 20, 2026 10:59 am IST

The International Criminal Court on Wednesday (August 19, 2026) lashed out at the United States after Washington slapped sanctions on ICC president Tomoko Akane, calling it a “flagrant attack” on the court’s independence.

The U.S. sanctioned Akane of Japan and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday (August 18, 2026), as part of Washington’s campaign against what it calls a “corrupt and fatally politicised” body.

The United Nations’ rights chief Volker Türk and the EU’s top officials threw their support behind Akane and her top officials.

“Unacceptable new sanctions imposed by the USA against the International Criminal Court’s President and a prosecution staff member must be lifted,” said Mr. Turk.

And in twin statements on X, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council head Antonio Costa the court “must be able to act independently and without external pressure.”

Germany’s foreign ministry also called the court’s independence “of central importance,”; while the Netherlands, which hosts the court at The Hague, also voiced its disapproval.

Joining the chorus of condemnation, Spain described the court as “the cornerstone of the international criminal justice system”.

And the court itself said in a statement: “These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution.”

“Such measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff… undermine the rule of law.”

Japan objects

Washington’s latest move follows sanctions it imposed on several ICC officials, seen as largely in response to the court’s investigations involving Israel, a U.S. ally.

Japan also objected to the sanctions, saying the country has “consistently supported the ICC… in its efforts to prosecute and punish the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and to uphold the rule of law.”

The measures are “very unfortunate,” foreign ministry press secretary Toshihiro Kitamura said in a statement.

Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC and a close U.S. ally — which is not a party to the international treaty that established the court.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said in a statement, without providing examples, that the sanctioned “individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction”.

Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.

Israeli support

President Donald Trump’s administration has already imposed sanctions against officials of the ICC, which issued in 2024 an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.

The measures bar them from entering the U.S. and from carrying out transactions in the US financial system.

In an X post Tuesday (August 18, 2026), Mr. Netanyahu applauded the U.S. sanctions and called the ICC “a kangaroo court that cloaks its abuse of power in the language of international law”.

Last month, Washington launched a major diplomatic offensive against the ICC, accusing it of “threatening” Americans and calling on partners to withdraw from the body — a move already announced by Chad and Venezuela, which has aligned with the United States since it captured leader Nicolas Maduro.

The ICC expressed concern that such withdrawals risked undermining the collective pursuit of justice.

‘Assault’

The U.S. signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC but never ratified the treaty. Israel, Russia and China are not ICC members either.

“The Trump Administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court is a corrupt and fatally politicised supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate,” said Mr. Rubio’s statement.

“We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty.”

Last week, four human rights groups sued Mr. Trump in a New York court over his sanctions targeting the ICC, arguing the measures blocked victims of war crimes from pursuing justice.

In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to issue its own arrest warrants for senior court officials.

These included Akane, 70, an ICC judge since 2018 who was elected as the court’s president in March 2024.

“Even if one judge were to die, we are easily replaceable, so there is really no value in targeting us,” she said after the Russian announcement.

Published – August 19, 2026 10:47 pm IST