But let me be clear: Peacekeeping operations should only be deployed when a peace agreement or at least a robust ceasefire is in place. We cannot keep peace when there is no peace to keep.
Archiv: 06-02-2025 US president Trump issues order 14203 / sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) / punishment for persons who help ICC investigate US citizens and US allies
The ICC strongly rejects new US sanctions designations
The International Criminal Court deplores the announcement of new designations for sanctions by the US administration against Judge Tomoko Akane (Japan), the President of the Court, and Mr Abdoulaye Seye (Senegal), Senior Trial Lawyer at the Office of the Prosecutor.
These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates pursuant to the mandate conferred by its States Parties from across regions. As a result of these designations, at present, nine of the eighteen Judges, both of the two Deputy-Prosecutors, the former Prosecutor and one staff member have been sanctioned by the United States.
Such measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff who work towards the fulfilment of the mandate that was conferred to the ICC by States undermine the rule of law. When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk.
âDeranged Behaviorâ: Marco Rubio Slammed for US Sanctions on ICC President
The social media account of Drop Site News accused Rubio of attacking the court solely to protect Netanyahu from war crimes prosecution, pointing out that âthere is currently not a single American citizen under indictment, investigation, or facing an arrest warrantâ from the ICC.
The sanctions earned the praise of the Israeli American Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which accused the ICC of conducting âpolitically motivated investigations and prosecutions targeting America and Israel.â
Rutgers Law School professor Adil Haque said the ICC sanctions showed the US was acting like a ârogue governmentâ and engaged in âderanged behavior.â
US sanctions International Criminal Courtâs president, official
Akane, a Japanese national who has served as ICC president since 2024, and Seye, a Senegalese national, were added to the Treasury Departmentâs Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, according to the agencyâs website.
Both designations were made pursuant to Executive Order 14203, „Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,“ which US President Donald Trump signed on Feb. 6, 2025, and which has since been used to designate 10 ICC officials, including former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan and eight judges.
Karim Khan dared to hold Israel to account – and that‘s why he was brought down
This included a media campaign in the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, The Guardian and latterly CNN; private warnings by David Cameron, then foreign secretary, who told him Britain would defund the ICC and withdraw from the Rome Statute if the warrants were issued; Republican senators who told him: „Target Israel and we will target you“, and being named publicly as a suspect before he had even had the chance to defend himself by the president of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP), Finland‘s Paivi Kaukoranta.
Danon threatened Mamdani with the same fate as Khan. „@NYCMayor Zohran Mamdani, take note: using Israel as a political weapon will not shield you from accountability,“ Danon posted.
Weltstrafgericht: Staaten beschlieĂen Aus fĂŒr ChefanklĂ€ger Khan
Doch Richter des Gerichtshofes stellten nach Darstellung von Khans Verteidiger fest, dass „kein Fehlverhalten oder eine Pflichtverletzung“ nachgewiesen worden sei.
Vor dem Hintergrund dieser AffĂ€re hatte die US-Regierung kĂŒrzlich ihre Attacken gegen das Gericht noch verstĂ€rkt. Die USA verhĂ€ngten bereits Sanktionen gegen Richter und Mitarbeiter. Die USA und Israel gehören dem Gericht nicht an.
Former UN oversight chief says ICC prosecutor Karim Khan is âvictim of massive stitch-upâ
(July 20, 2026)
Over the past year, he has submitted four expert‘s opinions commissioned by Khan‘s legal team to the 21-member bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), criticising the manner in which the investigation into misconduct allegations facing the prosecutor was conducted, and the subsequent handling of the process by the bureau.
In his latest submission on 28 June, obtained by Middle East Eye through independent sources, Swanson denounced the 8 June decision by the bureau, which suspended the prosecutor after concluding by a majority that he committed âserious misconductâ.
The bureauâs decision departed from the unanimous conclusion of a panel of three judges it appointed, which in March concluded that the facts presented in the UN investigation „do not establish misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant framework“.
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan dismissed
âThe Assembly has decided by a majority of 82 States Parties thatâŠprosecutor Karim Kahn committed serious conduct and a serious breach of dutyâŠand to remove [him] from office,â the Assembly president announced, calling for the dignity and privacy of all those involved.
ICC member states vote to dismiss chief prosecutor Khan
Assembly of States President PĂ€ivi Kaukoranta said 82 of â the courtâs 125 member states voted in â favor of the prosecutorâs â removal, concluding that Khan âcommitted serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty.â
ICC member states to vote on possible removal of prosecutor Karim Khan
The vote will take place during a special session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), the ICC‘s governing body, at UN headquarters in New York.
The 125 member states will decide by secret ballot, with an absolute majority of at least 63 votes required to remove Khan from office.
In May 2024, Khanâs office requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the Gaza war.
The ICC later issued warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif. The move drew fierce condemnation from Israel and the US, culminating in US sanctions targeting several ICC officials, including Khan.
Khan faces historic removal vote as critics warn ICC process has been politicised
Member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are set to gather at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday for a controversial vote which could see the court‘s chief prosecutor Karim Khan dismissed from his job over alleged misconduct claims.
It will be the first time in the ICC‘s 24-year history that member states have been asked to decide whether to remove a sitting chief prosecutor from office.
The Assembly of States Parties (ASP), the courtâs governing body that is made up of its 125 members, will vote by secret ballot requiring an absolute majority of 63 states to remove the prosecutor.
Khanâs lawyers said they have been denied accreditation to attend Fridayâs session and to mount a defence prior to the vote. They added that the president of the ASP âhas closed every formal channelâ through which they can address the assembly, and has asked all state parties not to meet with the legal team.
Trump Administration Vows to Dismantle the International Criminal Court
(July 14, 2026)
The ICC was established by a 2002 treaty to investigate and prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity when a member of the treaty is unable or unwilling to prosecute the crimes on its own. The U.S. signed but never ratified the Rome Statute, and the ICC has never opened an investigation into alleged crimes committed on U.S. territory.
The court has, however, taken actions against President Donald Trumpâs ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It has also opened investigations into American actions overseas, including alleged war crimes committed by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Some human rights organizations and legal experts have also argued that U.S. strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific and the U.S. abduction of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could fall within the ICCâs jurisdiction, as Venezuela is a party to the Rome Statute. The ICC has not opened a formal investigation into the U.S. conduct.
State Department Launches Campaign to Dismantle International Criminal Courtâs Threat to American Sovereignty
(July 13, 2026)
Actions under consideration include:
– Diplomatic calls from the Secretary of State, Deputy Secretary, ambassadors, and other members of senior leadership to foreign nations highlighting the abuses of the ICC and the risks posed to Americans and other nations urging them to withdraw from the ICC
– Nations that partner with American law enforcement and the U.S. military or that enjoy the benefits of the U.S. security umbrella are called upon to reject the ICCâs purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen
– Increased scrutiny of nations that refuse to reject the ICCâs false authority while relying on U.S. assistance
– Diplomatic calls urging other nations that, like America, that are not party to the Rome Statute to leverage their diplomatic networks to take similar actions alongside us
– Visa revocations and travel bans for ICC personnel
– Increased sanctions against the ICC and affiliated organizations
The Imperial Presidency Is Bigger Than Donald Trump
A future Democratic-controlled Congress should take up the job that Obama and the partyâs old guard abandoned: put strict limits on the use of drones that wonât simply be alternately loosened and tightened by whichever president comes to power, explicitly outlawing âtargeted killingâ and any other attempt at finding a loophole for the already existing ban on assassinations; finally repeal the 2001 Authorization of the Use of Military Force that has been serially abused by presidents to fight often secret wars all over the world; end mass surveillance, whether in the form of the National Security Agencyâs warrantless backdoor searches that Democrats actually expanded under Joe Biden, or in the warrantless spying that the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies now do through private data brokers; close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp that Trump is now trying to send migrants to; and embark on a twenty-first-century version of the Church Committee to investigate and lay bare national security abuses.
It is time for the world to move on without the United States
In between these two violent attacks, US President Donald Trump withdrew from 66 international organisations, including 31 UN entities, and launched the Board of Peace, a new institution he chairs personally that he suggested might replace the UN.
These and other developments in recent years demonstrate that the world order the US helped establish in 1945 no longer serves its interests.
(…)
A powerful first step would be relocating the UN headquarters from New York as an acknowledgment of reality. Why should the world body remain in a nation that is withdrawing from so many of its parts and building alternatives?
Remarks by the President of the General Assembly H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock at the European Parliament, Strasbourg 10 February 2026
These are trying times.
When President Metsola invited me in September at the High-Level Week of the UN General Assembly, the world felt already chaotic. I warned of a make-or-break moment for our multilateral system.
Today, only 40 days into 2026:
Venezuela.
Iran.
Greenland.
On top of Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and so many more crises.
The international order is not only under pressure, it is under attack.
And we face a new and more troubling kind of crisis: conflicts waged not even under the pretense of self-defense or respect for international law but often carried out in open defiance of it.
At precisely the moment when we most need cooperation, most need the United Nations, powers, even those who have a special responsibility to protect peace and security, are pulling away from it or even outright attacking it.
This geopolitical shift towards a world where âmight makes rightâ, contradicts more than a century of hard, bloody lessons, which people of this region remember all too well.
Rules and standards drawn from these experiences, which were believed to be set in stone, are now openly questioned, dismissed, or violated.
History teaches us that large systems rarely collapse in one dramatic moment.
They erode slowly. Rule by rule. Commitment by commitment.
With those who should defend them, rather staying silent.
Until one day, what seemed permanent simply vanishes.
General Assembly President urges Europeans to âstand upâ for the UN
(February 10, 2026)
In a key address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Annalena Baerbock repeated her call to uphold multilateralism amid âtrying timesâ globally.
She noted that just 40 days into 2026, the world has already seen crises around Venezuela, Iran and Greenland, on top of continuing devastation in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere.
âThe international order is not only under pressure, it is under attack,â she told lawmakers.
âAnd we face a new and more troubling kind of crisis: conflicts waged not even under the pretence of self-defence or respect for international law but often carried out in open defiance of it.â
She warned that at precisely the moment the world most needs cooperation and the UN, âpowers â even those who have a special responsibility to protect peace and security â are pulling away from it or even outright attacking it.â
Ms. Baerbock recalled that four years ago, when she was Germanyâs Foreign Minister, she addressed the General Assembly and called for the UN to stand up for Europeâs peace as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
âToday, Iâm coming as President of the General Assembly to Europe, calling for Europe to stand up for the United Nations because the world needs the UN. But right now, the UN and its principles as enshrined in the Charter, needs the world too,â she said, referring to all continents.
Any government in the world could expel the rogue state of Israel from the United Nations. None does.
(April 27, 2025)
In short: every government of a UN member state could bring in a resolution to the Assembly that, once it is adopted, requests an urgent advisory opinion of the World Court, the International Court of Justice.
And if the World Court decides so, Israel is being kicked out of the United Nations. Thatâs it. The Security Council is meaningless on that matter.
So here is the question of questions, to all of you around the world: Although it has been publicly demanded, even promised by various governments â why hasnÂŽt this happened yet?
Famine in Gaza: âA failure of humanity itselfâ, says UN chief
UN Secretary-General AntĂłnio Guterres said the results of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis were no mystery: âIt is a man-made disaster, a moral indictment â and a failure of humanity itself.
âFamine is not about food; it is the deliberate collapse of the systems needed for human survival.â
Famine conditions are projected to spread from Gaza Governorate to Deir Al Balah and Khan Younis Governorates in the coming weeks, the IPC estimates.
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UN agencies have collectively and consistently highlighted the extreme urgency of delivering immediate and full-scale humanitarian aid given the escalating hunger-related deaths, rapidly worsening levels of acute malnutrition and plummeting levels of food consumption in Gaza â with hundreds of thousands going days without anything to eat.
âAs the occupying power, Israel has unequivocal obligations under international law â including the duty of ensuring food and medical supplies of the population,â said the UN chief, reacting to the famine declaration from the IPC, which is endorsed by dozens of governments, UN agencies and NGOs as the key evidence-based measure of food insecurity and malnutrition.
See our UN News explainer here.
Mr. Guterres said Israelâs denial of its duties could not be allowed to continue: âNo more excuses. The time for action is not tomorrow â it is now.â
Trump admin imposes sanctions on more International Criminal Court officials
According to a State Department fact sheet, Prost, an ICC judge âis being designated for ruling to authorize the ICCâs investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.â
Guillou, another judge, âis being designated for ruling to authorize the ICCâs issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant,â the fact sheet said.
Gaza: Alarm over Israeli move to deregister NGOs
âUnless urgent action is takenâŠmost international NGO partners could be de-registered by 9 September or sooner â forcing them to withdraw all international staff and preventing them from providing critical, lifesaving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians,â said UN and partner aid organizations that are known collectively as the Humanitarian Country Team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
The UN understands that organizations must now submit, amongst others, details of representatives and all employees in-country, including Palestinian and foreign workers, with full identification and contact details.
UN expert Albanese rejects âobsceneâ US sanctions for criticising Israel
(July 10, 2025)
While announcing the sanctions on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio charged Albanese with waging a âcampaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israelâ.
The UN rapporteur hit back on Thursday, noting that the atrocities being committed in Gaza were not just down to âthe unrelinquished territorial ambitions of Israelâ and the backing of its supporters but also âcompanies who are profiting from itâ.
Last week, she released a report mapping the corporations aiding Israel in the displacement of Palestinians and its genocidal war on Gaza in breach of international law.