JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump has approved economic and travel sanctions targeting people working in the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation of US citizens or US allies such as Israel.
The ICC is a permanent court that can try individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and crimes of aggression against the territory of member states or committed by their citizens.
Trump's move on Thursday, February 6, coincided with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington, sought by the ICC for the war in Gaza.
The ICC condemned the sanctions.
"The trials stand firm with their personnel and promise to continue to provide justice and hope for the millions of victims of innocent atrocities around the world, in all previous situations," he said on Friday, February 7.
The ICC also asked its 125 member countries to support its staff.
Many people in Europe do the same.
"Giving sanctions to the ICC threatens the independence of the Court and weakens the overall international criminal justice system," said Antonio Costa, president of the European Council consisting of EU leaders, writing on social media platform Bluesky.
The Netherlands, the host country of a court based in The Hague, also regretted the sanctions, as did European Commission Chairman Ursula von der Leyen.
The court's work is critical in the fight against impunity, Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said in a post on X.
But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Trump's staunch ally, said the sanctions suggest it may be time to leave the ICC.
"It's time for Hungary to revisit what we're doing in international organizations under US sanctions! The new wind is blowing in international politics. We call it Tornado Trump," he said on X.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
