Latest in International Criminal Court (ICC)
On Friday, a panel of three International Criminal Court judges rejected the request of the court's Prosecutor to investigate "the situation" in Afghanistan, including alleged war crimes committed by the U.S. military and CIA.
On April 8, the Trump administration designated the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. A few days earlier, the administration had made good on its threat to impose sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) involved in the examination of U.S. actions in Afghanistan and Israeli actions in other contexts. As part of this effort, it revoked the U.S. visa of Fatou Bensouda, the ICC’s chief prosecutor.
President Donald Trump’s Sept. 25 speech to the U.N. General Assembly surprised few with its condemnation and dismissal of international institutions—from the World Trade Organization, to the U.N. Human Rights Council, to the International Criminal Court.
I argued Tuesday that, while John Bolton’s speech on the International Criminal Court (ICC) was designed to be maximally offensive to the court and its supporters, the actual policy steps he suggested to counter the court were largely hollow. I also suggested that Bolton’s speech might actually bolster the court’s sagging legitimacy.
In his first major speech since becoming national security adviser, John Bolton yesterday returned to one of his most enduring themes: the dangers of the International Criminal Court and, more broadly, runaway and unaccountable “global governance.”
In his speech to the Federalist Society on Monday, national security adviser John Bolton fired a broadside at the International Criminal Court, which he called “ineffective,” “unaccountable,” “deeply flawed” and “outright dangerous.” He said the ICC unacceptably threatens American sovereignty and U.S. national-security interests. He criticized the ICC prosecutor’s request to start an investigation of U.S.
National Security Adviser John Bolton delivered the following remarks to the Federalist Society on Monday. The remarks below are as prepared for delivery.
“Protecting American Constitutionalism and Sovereignty from International Threats”
Thank you, Gene [Eugene Meyer], for your kind introduction. I want to thank Gene, as well as Dean Reuter, for the invitation to be here today. It is a true honor to address all of you this afternoon.
In a post earlier this week, David Bosco speculated how John Bolton’s appointment as national security adviser might affect the Trump administration’s reaction if the International Criminal Court opens an investigation into possible U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan and other countries.
John Bolton’s appointment as national security adviser may have the most dramatic implications for U.S. policy toward North Korea and Iran. But there’s another dimension to his elevation that deserves at least some attention. Bolton, who has been a ferocious opponent of the International Criminal Court, will likely be assuming his post just as the ICC opens its first ever investigation of United States conduct.
The United Kingdom has already outlined economic and diplomatic sanctions against Russia in response to the chemical weapons attack in Salisbury, England. Prime Minister Theresa May suggested that covert action was also under consideration. And through its rhetoric, the U.K. government has even suggested that more overt uses of force may be an option. But what if the U.K. also looked to the institutions of legal accountability, including the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court? While admittedly imperfect institutions, the ICJ or the ICC could afford the U.K.