29/01/2025
We Need the International Legal Order: A Call to Protect the International Criminal Court.
As we enter the new year, the future of the International Criminal Court (ICC) faces significant threats. Sanctions against the Court and its officials, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns jeopardize the world’s first permanent international criminal court, which addresses the worst crimes known to humankind: the crime of aggression, genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. In 2023, the ICC suffered a cyberattack that disrupted operations and imposed additional costs on its Member States. Criminal proceedings were initiated in the Russian Federation against the Court’s Prosecutor and Judges after an arrest warrant was issued for its President and a collaborator. Civil society members supporting the ICC have faced threats, and the possibility of renewed U.S. sanctions for investigating Israeli officials looms large. Such actions could severely hinder the Court’s nearly 20 investigations worldwide, including in Libya, Myanmar, Palestine, Ukraine, and Venezuela, threatening its very existence and abandoning victims of the gravest crimes.
The ICC is not without flaws. Most of us have previously called for reforms to improve its governance and resource efficiency, leading to an Independent Expert Review and meaningful changes. While challenges remain, we are committed to the ICC’s vision of justice and its mandate to ensure that no one is above the law, regardless of power. Efforts to undermine the ICC are attacks on the principle that law protects the weak against the powerful.
A Critical Juncture
The weakening of multilateralism, characterized by rising unilateralism, transactionalism, and the erosion of international norms, poses existential threats, particularly to small and medium-sized States. These States rely on international law for their security and sovereignty.
