The International Criminal Court's (ICC) member states should show their resolute opposition to the United States' threats to undermine the authority of the court during their upcoming annual meeting, set to be held on December 5-12 in The Hague, a prominent human rights watchdog said Monday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2018) The International Criminal Court's (ICC) member states should show their resolute opposition to the United States' threats to undermine the authority of the court during their upcoming annual meeting, set to be held on December 5-12 in The Hague, a prominent human rights watchdog said Monday.
In September, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said that the ICC, which was seeking to look into US war crimes in Afghanistan, was a threat to US sovereignty. He added that the United States would ban ICC judges and prosecutors from entering the country and launch legal proceedings against them if the court sought to prosecute US nationals or citizens of allied countries.
"US threats against the ICC are an affront to every victim seeking justice before this court. ICC member countries should demonstrate at their annual meeting their resolve to oppose any effort to undermine the court's investigations and prosecutions," the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, Elizabeth Evenson, said as quoted in the statement.
HRW urged the ICC members to show their support for the court "with clear statements and actions."
"The ICC has struggled to deliver on expectations. It's precisely because the court's role is so crucial in bringing justice that court officials need to step up their performance and member governments need to increase their support," Evenson stressed.
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 between 2003 and 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 of the International Criminal Court in 2000, it has never ratified it.
In September, 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 in order to constrain the international court's powers.
Later that month, US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that the United States would provide no support or recognition to the ICC.
