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State parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) have in strong terms, condemned President Donald Trump’s sanctions against the institution.
Trump in his Thursday’s order, accused the Hague-based ICC of creating a “shameful moral equivalency” between Hamas and Israel by issuing the warrants at the same time.
Trump pointedly accused the world’s war crimes court of taking “illegitimate and baseless actions” against the US and its ally, Israel.
The United States and Israel are not member states of the ICC.
Towards this end, Trump announced an imposition of financial and visa restrictions on individuals and their families who assisted the ICC in investigating American citizens.
However, Tomoko Akane, ICC president, said the order harmed the court’s independence and deprived millions of innocent victims of atrocities of justice and hope.
The ICC recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The ICC said it found reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant acted as civilian superiors and intentionally directed attacks against a civilian population.
A Hamas commander was also subject to an arrest warrant.
On Friday, Tomoko Akane, president of the ICC urged the court’s 125 state parties, civil society, and the international community to defend the institution.
Accordingly, some hours later, 82 state parties that included, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Nigeria, Denmark, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Ghana, France, Gambia, and South Africa, Poland, Namibia, Luxembourg, Jordan, Finland, Sierra Leone, Mexico among others, issued a joint statement reaffirming their support for the ICC.
They posited; “As strong supporters of the ICC, we regret any attempts to undermine the Court’s independence, integrity, and impartiality.
“We are committed to ensuring the ICC’s business continuity so that the Court can continue to carry out its functions effectively and independently,” the statement said.