Why does the Trump administration hate the International Criminal Court so much?
U.S. Army soldiers patrol in Deh Bala, Afghanistan, in July. By Rick Noack Rick Noack Foreign affairs reporter focusing on Europe and international security Email Bio Follow April 5 at 8:06 AM BERLIN — Foreign accusations of U.S. double standards on human rights have become almost the norm since President Trump has taken office, most recently amid his nonconfrontational approach to Saudi Arabia. But to foreign observers of U.S.
But on March 15, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened the ICC with exactly this step, and said that the implementation had already begun. Democratic and Republican U.S. observers have taken an ambiguous approach to the court, at times recognizing the prosecution of warlords and others — and at other times condemning the institution when prosecutors’ focus turns in a direction unfavorable to the United States or its allies.
The U.S. government’s rationale is that being a member of the ICC would in fact be detrimental to the rule of law because international tribunals should be case-specific — for instance, exclusively focused on the Rwandan genocide — and mostly focus on nations without independent courts or authorities to enforce the law. Accepting ICC jurisdiction would run against the independence of the United States’ court system, that rationale goes.
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