Pillay slams US sanctions on ICC as 'unacceptable' — SkimNews
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- Navi Pillay, this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner and a former ICC judge, called US sanctions on the court "unheard of" and "unacceptable" for punishing judges over the judicial orders they issue
- The US unveiled sweeping sanctions hours after Trump called Pillay's Nobel "disgraceful and embarrassing," banning US entities from ICC transactions and targeting the institution itself beyond the 17 judges already individually sanctioned
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the measures defend US sovereignty, citing a closed Afghanistan investigation and ICC arrest warrants for Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
- The United States granted a six-month grace period before some sanctions take effect, allowing ICC member states to keep funding operations while Washington seeks a "solution," though the new measures do not require withdrawal of the Israel warrants to be lifted
- UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the decision "a serious blow" to international criminal justice, with the UK, Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands jointly saying they "regret and strongly disagree"
- Pillay, 85, became South Africa's fifth Peace Prize laureate after Mandela and Tutu, and joked she might share her prize with Trump, referencing last year's winner María Corina Machado gifting hers to him
Why it matters: The sanctions target the ICC as an institution — not just individual judges — and the six-month carve-out signals Washington wants leverage for negotiations rather than a permanent rupture. Yet eight Western and Asian allies sided with the court within hours, isolating the US on international justice enforcement while Trump publicly fumes over a Nobel he believes should have been his.
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