United States President Donald Trump issued sweeping sanctions on February 6, 2025, targeting the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. The sanctions, aimed at blocking the Court’s investigations into American and allied nationals, have drawn sharp criticism from the international community, with legal experts and human rights groups warning that they pose a serious threat to the global justice system.
These sanctions come at a time when the ICC is making headlines for a historic success: the arrest of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte last March 11, 2025. Just five days after an arrest warrant was issued, Duterte was apprehended and transferred to The Hague, becoming the first former Asian head of state to stand trial before the Court. His prosecution is tied to widespread human rights violations during his violent so-called “war on drugs,” which led to at least 27,000 extrajudicial killings, according estimates of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights.
Trump’s executive order allows the U.S. to freeze assets and ban travel for any non-American individual who supports ICC investigations into U.S. citizens, military personnel, or citizens of close allies—including Israel and the Philippines—without those nations’ consent. So far, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan has been sanctioned, with others potentially at risk. These punitive measures are widely viewed as retaliatory, stemming from the ICC’s investigations into alleged war crimes in Palestine and Ukraine. Arrest warrants have been issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Russian President Vladimir Putin—none of whom recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.
The US sanctions pose an existential threat to the ICC, in particular the financial restrictions will undermine the ICC and its ongoing investigations into war crimes, as UN experts highlighted in a statement. Thus, this may also affect ongoing trials such as against Duterte.
The international backlash against U.S. sanctions has been swift. Over 150 NGOs, coordinated by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, issued a joint statement in January 2025 condemning the move. They contend that the sanctions risk undermining the ICC’s efforts, hindering justice for victims, and discouraging international collaboration. The European Union and dozens of ICC member states have expressed “unwavering support” for the Court. In February 2025, 79 member states reaffirmed their commitment to fighting impunity and protecting the Court’s independence from political interference.
Legal experts have called for the adoption of protective laws—such as the EU’s blocking statute—to shield ICC officials and civil society actors from retaliation. This has also been a major call of a statement of Human Rights Watch and a number of supporting organizations, published on April 4, 2025. They also stressed that several ICC members, including Mongolia, South Africa, Italy and most recently Hungary, have breached their obligation to the ICC to implement arrest warrants, thus weakening the court’s reputation. This serves as a reminder of the Court’s structural vulnerabilities. The ICC has issued 56 arrest warrants since its founding in 2002, but fewer than half have been enforced.
Against this backdrop, Duterte’s arrest represents a major step toward accountability for thousands of victims and families who have long sought justice for the extrajudicial killings carried out under his anti-drug campaign.
Photo Ⓒ International Criminal Court