United Nations Reaffirms International Criminal Court To Be ‘A Critical Cog’ In Global Justice Efforts.

Geneva/Hague; July 2026: Today (Tuesday – 14th July 2026), the United Nations has upheld the critical role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the global fight to end impunity for grave crimes, amid calls for it to be abolished.

During his regular media briefing today, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric was asked if the United Nations Secretary-General had anything to say regarding reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wants to ‘dismantle’ the Court, which prosecutes individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.

“While the ICC is an organisation that is separate from the Secretariat and the UN, it remains for us a critical cog in the international justice system. It is supported by a vast number of Member States, and it helps bring accountability for serious crimes”, Dujarric reiterated. The US is not a party to the Rome Statue, the 1998 treaty that established the ICC, which is located in The Hague in the Netherlands.

Marco Rubio laid out his plans in an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal, underlining sovereignty and independence. “America never agreed to a world tribunal that can override our own courts and the Constitution”, he wrote. The US was “launching a diplomatic campaign with a simple message – sovereign States over globalism”, Secretary Rubio continued.  

It comes in the wake of developments last year, when the United States had imposed sanctions on nine ICC personnel, including judges, the prosecutor and deputy prosecutors, in connection with efforts to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Israel in Gaza. Rubio’s call came on 21st August 2025 – a day after 04 more Court personnel: 02 judges and 02 deputy prosecutors, were slapped with sanctions in connection with efforts to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the US and Israel. This followed after sanctions were imposed earlier on 04 other judges and the ICC Prosecutor. Measures imposed could include blocking financial access to property or assets in the US, as well as travel bans.

The sanctions stem from an executive order signed by US President Donald Trump in February 2025 in response to the UN-backed Court issuing arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Furthermore, the International Criminal Court is also probing war crimes allegedly committed in Afghanistan by all sides during years of conflict, including the US, following the allied invasion of the country in October 2001.

Neither the US nor Israel are party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. Meanwhile, in his much hyped opinion, US Secretary Of States Marco Rubio had stressed that “independence is our birth right, and the US does not ‘intend to trade it for rule by a self-appointed priesthood of ‘international law’.  International law ‘is under attack’”.

During today’s meeting Dujarric was asked if the Secretary-General accepts this characterisation of the system the UN Charter is built on. “International law, the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, were created by sovereign Member States. They have brought protection, they have brought relief to millions of people, and they are, as the Secretary-General has often said, under threat and under attack”.

In March 2023, the Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with alleged war crimes concerning the deportation and “illegal transfer” of children from occupied Ukraine.

Team Maverick.