How the International Criminal Court Ended Up in Its Chaos Era (Explained in 2 minutes)
By Yusra Suedi (PhD, Assistant Professor of International Law at University of Manchester)
This week, the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court (ICC) is in full swing.
The ICC is the court in The Hague that goes after criminals (not the other one in The Hague, the ICJ, that deals with disputes between countries). The ICC was established through an agreement called the Rome Statute that 125 countries are signed on to. They meet every year to check in on how the ICC is doing.
And, well… It’s not doing so well right now. Why?
The Prosecutor (Karim Khan) is caught up in a scandal
The Prosecutor is the one who opens an investigation, gathering evidence and making a case that the matter should go to trial. Big job! Karim Khan has held that role since 2021.
He’s on temporary leave while under investigation for serious sexual misconduct, which he denies. In the meantime, his two deputy prosecutors are running things.
This is a big deal because it could harm trust in the ICC (“If its own prosecutor is under investigation, how solid is its moral authority?”).
The U.S. is sanctioning ICC judges
Trump has twice (here and here) slapped sanctions on 9 (!) ICC staff members.
Why? They targeted the U.S. and Israel (the ICC declared an arrest warrant on Benjamin Netanyahu, and investigations concerning Israel are ongoing).
Sanctions mean those ICC staff members can’t do things like use credit cards (no matter where they were issued, because of U.S. control over global payment systems), use everyday services (like Microsoft, Uber, Amazon, etc.), or carry out basic transactions.
The ICC decided to switch from using Microsoft to an alternative, but the other sanctions have made life and work challenging lately!
A bunch of countries are pulling out of the ICC
This year Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Hungary all said they’re leaving, joining Burundi (left in 2017) and the Philippines (left in 2019).
(Everyone’s cool with international justice… until it comes after them!)
That leaves 121 member states (plenty!)... but it stings a little.
But… the show must go on!
Despite the chaos, the ICC has had four wins lately.
First, it has finally built a solid case against Joseph Kony, leader of Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Army. Even though he’s still on the run (remember the ‘Where’s Kony?’ viral video, i.e. #Kony2012? No answer yet!), the ICC officially ruled last month that there’s enough evidence he committed serious crimes, so the case will move forward in his absence.
Second, Ali Kushayb who helped the Sudanese government kill innocents in Darfur (2003-4) was found guilty by the ICC in October 2025. One step closer to jail!
Third, former Philippine President Duterte is now in detention in The Hague for alleged serious crimes linked to his deadly anti-drug campaign (2016-2022), until his trial begins.
Fourth, Khaled El Hishri, involved in killings and torture during the 2011 uprising in Libya, was caught in Germany and handed over to the ICC this week.
Phew!
But can the ICC survive these troubling times? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!
The International Criminal Court will get through this trying period and the court must keep going.
We really need ICC to prosecute international crimes and the court has all it takes..
We all witnessed what happened during the Yugoslavia war, the Rwanda genocide and other crimes that was committed, there was no court to prosecute offenders until International Tribunals was created, the ICC must be strengthened to lead the charge against impunity, its jurisdiction should be extended to include other crimes which is of International in character.
Duterte’s hearing on whether there is sufficient evidence to merit a trial for crimes against humanity is in full swing and watched avidly by many in the Philippines. All the Jurors in the Philippines questioned seem to feel that there is no question. As with MAGA in the US there are believers in the Philippines who staunchly defend Duterte and say the ICC and the current administration shouldn’t have allowed the leader of the state sanctioned murder of thousands of their fellow countrymen to be arrested and removed to The Hague for trial. The religious leader of Iran and the secular leader of Israel also murdered tens of thousands in the Middle East, and should be on the list for consideration of justice by the ICC (Ali Khamenei has now been taken out by Benjamin Netanyahu, https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendant/netanyahu). Finally the leaders of the US and Russia should be on the list for consideration of justice by the ICC.