UNITED NATIONS, Mar 16 (APP):NEW YORK, Mar 16 (APP): Human rights defendersexpressed outrage on Friday after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo statedthat the Trump administration was revoking or denying visas for anyInternational Criminal Court (ICC) personnel who try to investigate orprosecute U.S. officials or key allies for potential war crimes.
The move, Pompeo confirmed to reporters was a direct response to ongoingefforts by the Hague-based ICC to probe allegations of war crimes andcrimes against humanity tied to the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan.
Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s Human Rights Programme, was amongthose who spoke out against the decision. The ACLU currently representsKhaled El Masri, Suleiman Salim, and Mohamed Ben Soud, who were alldetained and tortured in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2008.
“This is an unprecedented attempt to skirt international accountabilityfor well-documented war crimes that haunt our clients to this day,” Dakwarsaid. “It reeks of the very totalitarian practices that are characteristicof the worst human rights abusers, and is a blatant effort to intimidateand retaliate against judges, prosecutors, and advocates seeking justicefor victims of serious human rights abuses.”
Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Rights Watch,called it “an outrageous effort to bully the court and deter scrutiny ofU.S. conduct.” He encouraged ICC member countries to “publicly make clearthat they will remain undaunted in their support for the ICC and will nottolerate U.S. obstruction.”
Daniel Balson, advocacy director at Amnesty International USA, noted thatthis is just “the latest attack on international justice and internationalinstitutions by an administration hellbent on rolling back human rightsprotections.”
Visa bans, as Balson pointed out, are “powerful tools typically reservedfor the most serious of human rights abusers.”
But rather than targeting global criminals, the Trump administration hasset its sights on the ICC—an impartial judicial body that aims to promoteaccountability under international law by probing and prosecuting crimes ofaggression, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.
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Pompeo’s announcement came after John Bolton, President Donald Trump’snational security adviser and a longtime critic of the ICC, threatened toimpose sanctions on court officials in September if they continued topursue an investigation of potential crimes by U.S. civilians or militarypersonnel in Afghanistan.
The move “is highly indicative of [the administration’s] culture ofdisregard for rights abuses,” Balson said. “Throwing roadblocks in front ofthe ICC’s investigation undermines justice not only for abuses committed inAfghanistan, but also for the millions of victims and survivors throughoutthe world who have experienced the most serious crimes under internationallaw.”
Echoing Bolton’s broader denunciations of the ICC last year, Pompeo onFriday highlighted that the United States—under both Democratic andRepublican presidents—has refused to join the court for more than twodecades “because of its broad, unaccountable prosecutorial powers and thethreat it poses to American national sovereignty.”
Warning that “the court could eventually pursue politically motivatedprosecutions of Americans,” the secretary of state told reporters that theTrump administration is “determined to protect the American and alliedmilitary and civilian personnel from living in fear of unjust prosecutionfor actions taken to defend our great nation.”
“These visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursueallied personnel, including Israelis, without allies’ consent,” Pompeoadded. “Implementation of this policy has already begun.” – APP
