Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, has strongly criticized US President Donald Trump's sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling them a...
Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, has strongly criticized US President Donald Trump’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling them a “direct assault on the international justice system.”“I think it’s important that they make very clear that they do not believe these sanctions are lawful, that in fact they see these as an attack on the administration of justice, and perhaps even as a violation of Article 70 of the Rome Statute, which speaks of obstruction of justice. And that they say they will not take steps to implement these sanctions.” · She urged key US allies to engage directly with Washington.This is a court that was set up in order to once again try to found the primacy of law over conflict, over violence, and it’s a court that is set up to look at the very most grave crimes under international law. So sanctioning this entity and its principal officers is a direct attack on that rule of law institution and on the effort to end impunity for these very grave crimes,” according to Satterthwaite.There are 125 member states that have joined the ICC, that have pledged their support for this important court, and that have participated and cooperated with the court in all sorts of ways. So it’s crucial that those states speak out and that they speak out clearly and in concert, as they have already started to do.”
