NEW YORK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th September, 2018) A coalition of human rights groups called on the UN to take immediate action against the United States for threatening International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a press release.
White House National Security Adviser John Bolton in a speech at the Federalist Society on September 10 said the Trump administration would ban, sanction and prosecute any ICC officials involved with investigating potential human rights abuses committed by US personnel in Afghanistan.
"A coalition of international human rights and civil liberties groups, including the ACLU, International Service for Human Rights, and Internal Commission of Jurists... wrote to the United Nations today calling on the international body to take urgent action in response to 'explicit and concrete threats' made by Bolton against the ICC," the release said on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Bolton also said that the United States would negotiate more bilateral agreements to prevent countries from surrendering US citizens to the ICC, adding that Washington would also consider taking steps at the UN Security Council to constrain the international court's powers.
In a 2016 report the ICC alleged that US personnel were involved with abuse of detainees during interrogations tied to the war in Afghanistan. Last November, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the court was going to carry out a more detailed investigation into the matter.
The United States signed but never ratified the 2000 Rome Statute, an agreement that established the UN-backed ICC.
