MANILA – The United States (US) announced sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Tomoko Akan and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer at the Office of the Prosecutor, on August 19 amid an ongoing campaign to dismantle the Court. 

The sanctions aim to impose legal, financial, and travel restrictions to the targeted individuals. As of this writing, the US has sanctioned nine judges, two deputy prosecutors, a former Prosecutor and a staff of the ICC.

“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk. Threats and coercive measures also impact the ability of victims to seek justice, as they turn to the Court when all other avenues have been exhausted,” the ICC said in a statement.

The ICC is prosecuting the case of Rodrigo Duterte. The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I found reasonable grounds to believe that Duterte is responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator for the crimes against humanity of murder when he was Davao City Mayor and, later on, President of the Philippines.

Read: Timeline: ICC case against Rodrigo Duterte

“As previously stated, the Court remains undeterred and stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities,” the ICC said. “The Court will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality, in full accordance with the Rome Statute and in the interest of victims of international crimes.”

Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of Karapatan, told Bulatlat that the US government’s actions expose its disregard for international human rights law “while it commits the most horrific crimes against humanity in its role in the mass murders of the people of Palestine, Iran, and other countries subject of the US wars of aggression.”

US is the largest provider of military aid of Israel in its ongoing genocide to the people of Palestine in Gaza. According to policy analyst William Hartung of Quincy Institute, the US spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel which does not include the tens of billions of dollars in arms sales agreements that have been committed for weapons and services. Seventy-eight percent of Israel’s arms imports since 2000 came from the US, the Council on Foreign Relations reported.

The US and Israel launched a military attack on Iran on February 28 which killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khalemenei and dozens of students in an all-girls primary education school. In a previous Bulatlat report, it was reported that this attack violates the right to self-determination enshrined in the United Nations Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Read: US–Israel violates UN Charter, international law in strikes on Iran

As of this writing, the war continues and the impact extends to the neighboring countries in Asia like the Philippines through increases in the prices of petroleum products. An additional 1.34 million Filipinos became poor due to the oil price shocks since the US-Israel aggression on Iran.

Read: Oil price shocks push more than 1M Filipinos to poverty – study

“It does not only show the extent of the US’ undermining the Rome Statute and the ICC. It likewise speaks to its unabashed temerity to use its tools to evade accountability,” Palabay said. (DAA)