The United States has asked its NATO allies to help dismantle the International Criminal Court (ICC) and withdraw from the court’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute, according to reports.
The campaign against the ICC was launched this summer by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. NATO itself is not a member of the ICC. However, all NATO countries except the US and Turkey are members of the court. He has accused the court of interfering with US sovereignty. He warned that the US would respond strongly if the court tried to limit its freedom of action.
Washington also asked NATO members to examine what it described as the threat posed by the ICC to their countries, publicly criticise what it called the court’s “overreach” and stop providing material support to it. In July, Rubio said the ICC and its supporters were using international laws and agreements to challenge America’s sovereignty.
The investigation was later given lower priority. The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute people accused of serious international crimes, including genocide and war crimes. The court last investigated allegations involving US officials in 2020, when it opened a probe into alleged war crimes by American soldiers in Afghanistan.
