Rubio vows to 'dismantle' ICC with global campaign as Trump escalates pressure

WASHINGTON, DC: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has pledged to "dismantle" the International Criminal Court (ICC) through a new global diplomatic campaign, expanding the Trump administration's confrontation with the tribunal beyond sanctions.

The announcement follows a legal challenge from three ICC judges who sued the Trump administration in New York last month over sanctions imposed against them. Rubio's latest move signals a broader effort to persuade other countries to distance themselves from the court.

Rubio expands campaign against ICC

Rubio unveiled the initiative in a Wall Street Journal opinion article on Monday, July 13, and a video message posted on social media, describing the effort as a fight between national sovereignty and international institutions.

"The US is launching a diplomatic campaign with a simple message — sovereign states over globalism," Rubio wrote in the op-ed.

He added, "Using all the tools at our government's disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC — brick by brick, if necessary."

A State Department official told a news agency that the administration's strategy will include travel bans, visa revocations, expanded sanctions against the ICC and affiliated organizations, and diplomatic pressure on other countries to withdraw from the court.

Rubio also sharply criticized the tribunal in his video message, calling it "a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited."

In the opinion piece, he went further, accusing the ICC of being "backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the US"

ICC dispute builds on long-running US opposition

Rubio's announcement comes after three ICC judges filed a lawsuit in New York last month, arguing that sanctions imposed by the Trump administration against them are unlawful.

The ICC was established in 2002 and a total of 125 countries have signed and ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the court.

The United States has never joined the Rome Statute, and administrations from both parties have taken different approaches toward the tribunal, as per the Hill report.

US opposition to ICC spans administrations

The Obama administration supported the ICC's investigation into post-election violence in Kenya, while the Biden administration shared intelligence that contributed to the court's case against Russian President Vladimir Putin and another Russian official over the alleged kidnapping of Ukrainian children, the report said.

According to the report, that cooperation in 2021 also reportedly led the ICC to deprioritize investigations involving US service members as it shifted its focus toward alleged crimes committed by the Afghan government and Taliban forces.

“By contrast, both the Bush and Trump administrations opposed ICC efforts to investigate the conduct of US troops in Afghanistan and Israel's actions involving Palestinians,” the report stated.

The 2002 American Service-Members' Protection Act, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, authorizes the president to protect US personnel who are detained or imprisoned on behalf of the ICC, it said.