Fatou Bensouda, a former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), has called for an EU-wide statute to block what she describes as “thuggish” and “bullying” US sanctions imposed on ICC members, which she says are designed to push the court into oblivion.
US Sanctions on ICC Officials
In February 2025, the United States imposed sanctions on 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor, as well as three Palestinian organizations. This action was a response to the ICC’s 2024 decision to issue arrest warrants for members of the Israeli cabinet, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The sanctions, which include travel bans and asset freezes, have effectively locked judges out of the European financial system, making it impossible for them or their families to live normal lives.
Bensouda’s Remarks at The Hague
Speaking at a meeting of The Rights Forum, a prominent Dutch non-governmental organization in The Hague, Bensouda stated: “These are coercive attempts to interfere with the independent exercise of judicial and prosecutorial functions established under international law. If the international community does not respond with seriousness, institutional resolve and practical solidarity, the consequences will extend far beyond The Hague.” Without directly naming the US, she added: “To deploy such instruments against prosecutors, judges or court officials who are engaged in judicial functions in the pursuit of accountability for the most egregious crimes represents a profound conceptual distortion. It is thuggish and inappropriate, and it should be called out for what it is. It transforms disagreement with legal process into crippling economic coercion to meet political ends. It is bullying, coercion and power politics through other means.”
Criticism of Dutch Government
There is growing anger that the Dutch government, as host to the ICC in The Hague, has done little to protect ICC judges facing crippling sanctions or individual intimidation. Bensouda accused ICC-affiliated states of “largely slow and timid reactions, inactions and empty gestures of support, without tangible backing and pushback against coercive measures.” She, a Gambian lawyer currently serving as her country’s high commissioner to the UK, revealed she had been subjected to organized intimidation during her tenure at the court and believed her subsequent career path had been affected.
Warnings About Future Sanctions
Bensouda warned that preparations are needed now for potential sanctions against the ICC itself as an institution. “We should ask ourselves an uncomfortable question,” she said. “If highly qualified professionals conclude that service at the ICC carries unacceptable personal and financial risk, what happens to the future capacity of the institution? What happens when sanctions become normalised as tools of judicial intimidation? What happens when banks decline services, insurers withdraw coverage, technology providers hesitate to engage and external experts fear association with the court? And this is not hypothetical.”
Call for Structural Resistance
She called for “structural resistance,” urging state parties to establish coordinated legal, defense, and indemnification mechanisms for sanctions. “State parties cannot respond merely with expressions of concern. Supportive statements are no longer enough. Concrete proposals are necessary. No prosecutor, judge, registrar or investigator acting within lawful mandate should face personal financial ruin because of politically motivated sanctions. States should create protected banking and financial channels for the court, its personnel and authorized contractors. The EU should move to trigger the EU blocking statute.” She also called for state parties to adopt domestic legislative safeguards to prevent enforcement cooperation with coercive measures directed against lawful ICC activity, emphasizing that “the Rome Statute system cannot depend solely on moral solidarity. It requires operational solidarity.”
Dutch Government’s Role
The Dutch government has signed an agreement with the ICC committing to ensure the security, safety, and protection of people indispensable to the court. However, progressive Dutch MPs claim the coalition government has done little in practice to defend the ICC, leaving the task to other countries, notably Spain. The US justifies its sanctions by stating that the ICC officials directly engaged in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals without Israel’s consent.
Distortion of Sanctions
Bensouda argued that the US has distorted sanctions, turning them from a legitimate instrument into a tool for wholly inappropriate political signaling. “The purpose of personal sanctions is not merely punitive, it is deterrent. It is intended to create fear. It is intended to isolate.” She said the aim is for the ICC to fade into oblivion, adding: “The ICC is not a hostile government. It is not an armed group. It is not a terrorist organization. It is not a sanctions evader. It is a critical judicial body. And using sanctions against judicial actors represents a dangerous misuse of a tool originally justified for fundamentally different purposes.”
