Jetten condemns planned US sanctions against ICC, urges dialogue

Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten has condemned the United States’ decision to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court in The Hague and said the Netherlands would defend the institution “brick by brick”.

In a joint press conference with Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, Jetten said the announcement by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday was “deeply regrettable”. He went on: “We’re very much disappointed by this escalation and condemn the announced sanctions.”

Jetten said the next six months would be a “crucial” time after the Trump administration delayed the onset of the measures to allow “time for states parties to demonstrate meaningful progress on diplomatic and legal resolutions that address fundamental US concerns regarding the ICC.”

Rubio said the court was a threat to American servicemen who faced being prosecuted for their actions during overseas missions, even though the United States is not a member.

The US has also attacked the decision to serve arrest warrants on Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

“We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate,” he said.

Nobel Prize

The announcement came hours after South African jurist Navi Pillay, who has served as a judge at both the ICC and the International Court of Justice in The Hague, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jetten called for “open dialogue” with the US over the next six months “to prevent the sanctions being implemented in April”, but he added: “At the same time we are preparing for a more difficult situation.”

He would not say if the Netherlands, as the host of the ICC, would ask the European Union to activate its blocking statute, ordering EU-based businesses not to comply with the sanctions, but he said: “We will do everything to protect the ICC.”

The sanctions will cut the court off from any US company or organisation, including providers of financial and technology services. They are the first measures to be announced against the institution rather than individual staff members.

The Trump administration has so far sanctioned 13 judges and officials at the ICC, including the court’s president, Tomoko Akane, and senior prosecutor Abdoulaye Saye, preventing them from travelling to the US or using banking services.