International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane has pushed back against a US campaign to dismantle the Hague-based judicial body, calling on member states to support the court.
“The ICC must not be dismantled,” Akane told a virtual news conference on Wednesday, Tokyo-based Kyodo news agency reported.
Akane is the first Japanese national to head the court, which has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the use of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population in Gaza.
“For victims of the most serious international crimes, the ICC is their last hope,” Akane said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, has called the court a “corrupt and fatally politicised supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.”
“We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty,” Rubio said last week, when the US sanctioned Akane and ICC prosecutor Abdoulaye Seye.
Akane said: “The United States has long accused the ICC of being a corrupt organisation that has abused its power and taken resources from sovereign states, but I have never been involved in any such conduct.”
“I have no reason to incur US sanctions,” Akane told the online news conference.
“I will resist any adverse consequences,” she added.
Rubio said: “Our whole of government campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to national sovereignty will be sweeping.”
“We expect more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicised and unaccountable court,” he said.
The US has targeted nine of the ICC’s 18 judges, freezing their assets and effectively barring them from the US financial system and from entering the country.
“The situation is becoming increasingly serious,” Akane told Japan’s public broadcaster NHK earlier.
Urging support from Tokyo, Akane said Japan “gained international respect because it has maintained pacifism and the rule of law since the end of World War Two.”
US sanctions ‘incompatible’ with Tokyo’s stance
The Japanese government said it had “repeatedly urged Washington at various levels not to sanction” Akane.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Tuesday that the US sanctions were “incompatible” with Tokyo’s stance, which has reiterated its support for the court.
Last year, Japan was the largest financial contributor to the court, established under the Rome Statute, which entered into force in 2002.
The court holds trials to prosecute individuals for war crimes as well as crimes against humanity.
Tokyo called the sanctions “very unfortunate” but has faced criticism for what has been described as its “weak response” to the US.
However, Akane said: “The inconvenience and threats that these sanctions may cause me personally were something I anticipated from the outset.”
“They will not change the way I approach my judicial duties or how I respond to threats,” she told the news conference.
“Even if sanctions are imposed on the ICC itself, we are determined not to give up,” said Akane, stressing that the US sanctions should not be viewed as a problem for the ICC alone but as a “crisis for the rule of law itself.”
“If the ICC were ever dismantled, I fear it would mark the beginning of a process in which the rule of law is driven out by the rule of force.”
