U.S. Secretary of State Rubio Enacts Sanctions on International Criminal Court

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched a campaign on July 13 to isolate or dismantle the International Criminal Court. He published an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal and posted a video on X stating that the court threatens U.S.

Border agents, military personnel and elected leaders. The State Department said options include travel bans, visa revocations and sanctions on ICC officials and affiliates, along with diplomatic pressure on other countries to withdraw from the court. A department official added that nations relying on U.S.

Assistance while refusing to reject the ICC’s authority would face increased scrutiny. The ICC is headquartered in The Hague and can investigate only crimes committed in states that are party to the 2002 Rome Statute. The United States has not ratified the treaty, and the court has not opened investigations into crimes on American soil.

Six weeks into his second term, President Trump issued an executive order declaring a national emergency over the ICC’s actions targeting the United States and Israel. He imposed sanctions on chief prosecutor Karim Khan, two deputies and six judges for investigations into Israel’s conduct in Palestine and U.S. service members in Afghanistan.

The administration expanded those sanctions throughout 2025 to include UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese and three Palestinian human rights groups, The Guardian reported. Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said the ICC is not claiming jurisdiction over conduct in the United States and that Rubio was dressing up a quest for impunity for American war crimes under the label of national sovereignty.

Raed Jarrar, Dawn’s advocacy director, said the attack undermines access to justice from Ukraine to Sudan and could amount to obstruction of justice under the Rome Statute.

A former senior U.S. government sanctions official said the administration may sanction the ICC as a whole, which would bar Americans from working with the court.