After Trump’s attack: Why Trump is now cracking down on the International Court of Justice

Es is an unusual appearance. Thursday morning, in the State Department press room. Three ministers appeared – those for foreign affairs, defense and justice – as well as the national security advisor Robert O’Brien. The four men want to explain why the President recently signed a decree to impose economic sanctions and travel restrictions on individual members of the International Criminal Court.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo uses a vivid and constructed scenario to make it clear what it is about, what the Trump administration wants to prevent. Imagine how Pompeo begins (“I’m a veteran myself”), an American soldier goes on vacation with his family, “maybe on a beach in Europe”. Two decades earlier, this soldier had defended America honorably in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and brought terrorists down there.

“Then this vacation suddenly turns into a nightmare,” Pompeo continues to describe his scenario. The police of a European state arrest the soldiers “because of a politically motivated charge” that a prison sentence is possible. “A spouse behind bars for the defense of freedom,” says Pompeo, “a son or daughter who has been robbed of a mother or father.” And all at the instigation of a law enforcement officer in the Netherlands. “Making sure this doesn’t happen is at the core of America First’s foreign policy.”

Pompeo sees “persecution of Americans”

Sadly, the scenario is not hypothetical, the U.S. Secretary of State says. Such a nightmare could become a reality through the International Criminal Court and its “ideological crucifixion” against American military personnel. Pompeo recalls that, at the end of 2017, “our brave fighters” had been prosecuted for “alleged crimes” during counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan. Pompeo sees this as a “persecution of Americans”. That is not an option because the United States is not part of the Rome Statute, on the basis of which the International Criminal Court was created.

Defense Minister Mike Esper said the court’s competence was never accepted. Security adviser O’Brien even calls the court “failed,” despite the repeated calls for reform by “our allies Great Britain, Japan, Germany and other countries,” as he says. Justice Barr Barr sees “a political tool of international elites” in the International Court of Justice.

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With all these violent attacks on the judges in The Hague, one wonders why the Trump administration is only now – after almost three and a half years in office – taking action, why Trump has only just signed his decree. It is by no means new to be investigated for alleged war crimes in Afghanistan against US soldiers and US intelligence officers.

USA was never a member state

Indeed, the United States has never been a member of the Hague Court, which was founded in 2002 and has the task of indicting war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Court is recognized by 122 countries. Germany and all other EU countries are among them. The current judge comes from Nigeria, the two vice presidents from France and the Czech Republic.

In the United States, the Trump administration is not the first to cheat with the court. Washington had participated in the negotiations that led to the establishment of the court, but then voted against the Rome Statute in 1998, including alongside China. At that time, President Bill Clinton ruled. However, even his successors George W. Bush and Barack Obama did not join.

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There was no loud opposition from the Democratic Party to the decree on Thursday. Trump’s opponent Nancy Pelosi, spokeswoman for the House of Representatives, did not mention the process during a press conference in the Capitol. The political class in the United States is currently dealing with many issues, but least of all with foreign policy. Corona crisis, recession, unemployment, the racism debate, police violence and a foreseeable dysfunctional electoral system before the presidential election in just under five months keep both parties busy.

The International Criminal Court is an orchid theme, while praising the military is the basic tune for Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump is currently facing all kinds of headwinds. He does not have to fear this for the signing of the decree. Rather, he might be able to score with military personnel before the November election.

There was a crash between the USA and the court

Already last year there had been a big crash between the USA and the court. At the time, Foreign Minister Pompeo withdrew the entry visa from the chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. Previously, Bensouda had asked the judges to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan that could have affected Americans. At first, the judges refused, and after Bensouda’s appeal, the investigation was approved in March.

With his decree (“executive order”) Trump wants to protect military and secret service employees as well as their families. The White House sees the activities of the criminal court as an attack on the rights of the American people and a potential violation of national sovereignty. The International Criminal Court is an “ineffective international bureaucracy”. Opposing nations manipulated the criminal court, the White House said. There is also corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the prosecution in The Hague.

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As much as Trump’s decree is fundamentally traditionally rejected by the Court, he also follows a pattern of his foreign policy. “America first” – that’s what Pompeo calls it, analogous to Trump’s election campaign motto of 2016. But more appropriate would be “America only”. If Trump has established a foreign policy doctrine, it is that of withdrawing from international organizations and multilateral agreements.

For example, the United States has abandoned the Paris climate protection agreement and the nuclear agreement with Iran. You have left the UN cultural and scientific organization Unesco and are withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO). They have also withdrawn from the INF treaty with Russia and have also left the Open Skies treaty with 33 partner countries. At the very beginning of his tenure, Trump terminated the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, a trade agreement that once comprised 40 percent of the global economy. Trump has repeatedly summoned “better” contracts and agreements. However, the creation of such multilateral agreements is far more arduous and demanding than terminating them. The global punishment for potential war crimes is not currently high on the Trump administration’s list of priorities.

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