Republican U.S. Representative Chip Roy is leading efforts to impose sanctions on officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC). This comes following the ICC’s decision to initiate investigations into the respective conducts of the United States and Israel in ongoing international conflicts. Specifically, the ICC is investigating the U.S. for its actions in Afghanistan and Israel for its activities in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
Rep. Roy contests these investigations, arguing that they infringe on national sovereignty and overstep the ICC’s legal authority. He has submitted a resolution in Congress to pressure the executive branch towards enforcing sanctions on ICC officials involved in the investigations.
Without commentary on the merits of the case, it is important to mention that the International Criminal Court is an international tribunal with the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. While both the U.S and Israel have signed the Rome Statute that established the ICC, none of them ratified it and as such they are not members of the court. Critics of the ICC also argue that it tends to target African and Eastern European countries disproportionately.
