WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday vowed to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court and urged other countries to join the effort as the Trump administration significantly escalates its campaign against the global institution. Rubio accused the ICC of “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles,” but with “the force of so-called international law.” The administration’s ire against the ICC goes back to President Donald Trump’s first term, when it targeted the ICC for seeking to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan. The second Trump administration has imposed a slew of sanctions against ICC officials for their attempts to investigate the US and Israel. However, the State Department-led, “whole-of-government campaign” to dismantle the ICC is a significant escalation, particularly as it seeks to pressure countries around the world to join and threatens potential cuts to US assistance for those who don’t.
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“Nations that refuse to reject the ICC’s false authority while relying on US assistance are likely to come under increased scrutiny,” a State Department official said Monday. “Using all the tools at our government’s disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC—brick by brick, if necessary,” Rubio wrote in a separate piece in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. Those tools include possible travel bans, visa revocations, and increased sanctions, the State Department official said.
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The official said that countries “that partner with US law enforcement, host a US military presence, or benefit from the broader US security umbrella are being called upon to reject the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen,” the official said.