Donald Trump has declared war on international justice. Australia must speak up | Geoffrey Robertson

Geoffrey Robertson

Feb. 10, 2025, 11:38 p.m.

The ICC sanction is designed to intimidate and stop it from working against war criminals, Geoffrey Robertson writes

Donald Trump has declared war on international justice by the dictatorial device of an executive order. He has sanctioned the international criminal court. This empowers him to seize any funds belonging to the court or its judges or employees and to ban them from entering the US. He issued a similar sanction, during his previous presidency, but it was overturned by Joe Biden before court challenges to it could be heard. This time it will prevent ICC leaders from entering New York to report to the UN and will end cooperation to provide evidence to ICC prosecutors for action against Russian commanders. The greatest beneficiary of Trump’s sanction will be Vladimir Putin.

Australia is one of the 125 state members of the ICC but, inexplicably, it has not yet spoken out against Trump’s puerile initiative. Seventy-nine state members immediately did so, with allies including the UK, Germany and France describing their support for the court’s independence, impartiality and integrity as “unwavering”. They warned that Trump’s decision might imperil the confidentiality and safety of victims of the crimes being investigated.

Geoffrey Robertson AO KC is the author of Crimes Against Humanity, the Struggle for Global Justice, the next edition of which is published by Penguin this month