President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on certain employees of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. Trump is upset over an approved criminal investigation into war crimes that may have been committed by U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
The president states that the ICC has no right to investigate this and says it violates US sovereignty. He accuses Russia of manipulating the criminal court. “The United States has made it known several times that the ICC has no jurisdiction over Americans,” the White House said in a statement.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the US will not allow “our people to be threatened by a fake court.”
The sanctions prevent certain ICC employees and their family members from traveling to the US. In addition, economic sanctions are being imposed against them.
The United Nations, Human Rights Watch and the EU are concerned about the move by the US.
Investigation into crimes between 2003 and 2014
Prosecutor at the ICC, Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible war crimes committed in the war-torn country between 2003 and 2014.
The investigation should include the mass killing of civilians by the Taliban and the possible abuse of prisoners by the United States military and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The study was already approved in March and had been under investigation for several years.
The ICC was established in 2002 to investigate war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The court is recognized by 123 countries. The US has never been a member of the criminal court.
Although Afghanistan is a member of the criminal court, the Afghan government proposes to try war crimes domestically.
Invasion of The Hague Act
The US has previously threatened actions against the ICC if Americans may be prosecuted.
President George Bush passed a law in 2002 to protect military personnel and other U.S. government personnel from prosecution by an international criminal court: the American Service Members Protection Act (ASPA). This law is also referred to as the ‘invasion of The Hague’ law, because it would allow an invasion of the Netherlands to free any American prisoners.
The International Criminal Court has not yet responded to Trump’s decision.
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