Netherlands Bracing For Doubtlessly Devastating U.S. Sanctions In opposition to ICC

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch officers are making ready for the United States to impose a troublesome new spherical of sanctions on the International Criminal Court because it seeks to dismantle the worldwide tribunal over what the Trump administration sees as overstepping its authority.

Officials within the court docket’s host nation, the Netherlands, have been notified that the sanctions are imminent and are taking a look at methods to assist the tribunal maintain working, together with paying employees, defending witnesses and sustaining the detention facility, diplomatic and authorities officers with data of the briefings advised The Associated Press. They spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly.

Washington has already sanctioned greater than a dozen present and former employees members, together with half of the court docket’s sitting judges, in what U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has described as a “sweeping marketing campaign to dismantle the menace posed by the International Criminal Court.”

The U.S. and Israel have strongly objected to the court docket’s arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over the battle in Gaza. The U.S. additionally has opposed investigations into its army actions in Afghanistan.

Like Russia, China, India and Israel, the United States is amongst nations which have by no means joined the panel, with Washington citing fears of politically motivated prosecutions of its army. The court docket presently has 125 member states.

The sanctions may stop the court docket from accessing monetary and IT providers, and even paying its U.S. workers. When the court’s former chief prosecutor was sanctioned in 2025, he misplaced entry to his Microsoft e mail, his financial institution accounts have been frozen and he was barred from coming into the United States.

According to 2 sources accustomed to the state of affairs, U.S. officers warned their Dutch counterparts that sanctions can be levied as early as Monday and inspired the court docket’s host state to withdraw from the establishment.

Two U.S. officers advised the AP that extra ICC sanctions could also be coming, however pressured that the dimensions and scope of the penalties had not but been finalized and that no announcement is predicted this week. The officers weren’t licensed to remark publicly on the matter and spoke on situation of anonymity.

The ICC was established in The Hague in 2002 because the court docket of final resort to prosecute people accountable for the globe’s most heinous atrocities: battle crimes, crimes in opposition to humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. It takes on instances when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute crimes on their territory.

U.S. officers didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. “The Trump Administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court is a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court docket that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio mentioned in a statement when announcing sanctions on the court president last month. “We is not going to tolerate its assault on state sovereignty.”

The ICC has been making ready for months for the potential for sanctions. Earlier this yr, the court docket migrated off Microsoft merchandise onto a German software program supplier, in response to three ICC employees members who weren’t licensed to talk on the file. The tribunal has additionally modified insurance coverage and different monetary suppliers to corporations with no footprint within the United States, they mentioned.

Dutch and court docket officers are hoping for a six-month grace interval earlier than the sanctions come into impact, arguing that the establishment wants time to sever itself from American corporations, which may face enormous monetary penalties if they’re discovered to be in violation.

Beyond migrating to European-based options, the Netherlands and the European Union have few choices to guard the establishment.

The EU “blocking statute” can be utilized to guard European court docket employees by stopping European corporations from complying with the U.S. measures, although it’s unclear whether or not the statute would defend the ICC itself, as a result of it’s an global physique, not a European one. EU residents are entitled to a primary checking account, however that doesn’t present entry to bank cards or U.S. fee amenities.

A small however rising variety of the worldwide tribunal’s member states have introduced plans to depart the establishment in latest months, together with Venezuela and Chad.

Chad specifically cited the United States in its choice to withdraw. Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul mentioned in a press release that in a cellphone name with a U.S. official in July, “the American facet expressed its issues relating to the functioning of this establishment and requested that Chad rethink” its membership.

Associated Press journalists Lorne Cook in Brussels and Matt Lee in New York contributed to this report.