Int'l Criminal Court Says Trump Administration's Criticism Will Not Derail Work

Int'l Criminal Court Says Trump Administration's Criticism Will Not Derail Work

The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday that it would continue doing its work in accordance with the principles of the rule of law, despite criticism and threats by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th September, 2018) The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday that it would continue doing its work in accordance with the principles of the rule of law, despite criticism and threats by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

On Monday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the court, which was seeking to look into US war crimes in Afghanistan, was a threat to US sovereignty. Bolton said that Washington might even bar ICC judges from entering the country and freeze their assets, a stance that was later reaffirmed by White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

"The ICC, as a court of law, will continue to do its work undeterred, in accordance with those principles and the overarching idea of the rule of law," the court said as quoted by the Guardian newspaper.

In turn, an official EU representative told Sputnik that the European Union would continue to support the rule of law and efforts to promote justice for the most heinous crimes so that the ICC could fulfill its intended role as a court of last resort complementary to national jurisdictions.

The representative stressed that the bloc supported the court and was fully committed to ensuring that it remained independent and effective.

The ICC probes war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The court noted in its statement that if any country failed to investigate these crimes itself, the court would exercise its jurisdiction.

The ICC further recalled that 123 countries had ratified the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court.

The UN-backed court said in its 2016 report that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the United States had been complicit in the torture and ill-treatment of detainees in secret detention facilities in Afghanistan in 2003-2004.

In 2017, the court said it would carry out a more detailed investigation into the abuses by the US military in Afghanistan.

Despite the fact that the United States signed the Rome Statute in 2000, it never ratified it.