THE HAGUE, July 21 (Xinhua) -- The United States' sweeping campaign to "dismantle the threat" posed by the International Criminal Court (ICC) has drawn criticism from Dutch legal experts, who warn that it poses a "dangerous" challenge to the international legal order.
"If the United States tries to dismantle such institutions, it would move the world toward a system governed by the rule of the strongest rather than the rule of law. That would be a very dangerous development," Alette Smeulers, professor of international crimes at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told Xinhua in a recent interview.
The U.S. Department of State announced on July 13 a broad campaign to counter what it called the ICC's threat to U.S. sovereignty. In a statement, the department said the Hague-based court poses "an intolerable threat" by claiming the authority to investigate, prosecute and even imprison U.S. service members and government officials acting in the U.S. interests.
The latest move marks a further escalation in tensions between Washington and the court. Last December, the United States imposed sanctions on two ICC judges over what it described as their involvement in "politicized actions" against Israel.
Smeulers described the U.S. campaign as both unjustified and dangerous. "The ICC can prosecute only the most serious crimes, and only when they are committed on the territory of a State Party to the Rome Statute or by nationals of a State Party," she said.
Kyra Wigard, assistant professor of law school at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, told Dutch online media NU.nl that imposing sanctions on judges is "absurd." "Sanctions are for alleged terrorists or countries at war," she said.
Smeulers warned that the U.S. campaign could have "a very significant impact" on both the ICC's work and the broader international legal order. She noted that Washington has indicated that it intends to pressure other countries to withdraw from the Rome Statute and end their ICC membership.
Voicing her concerns about countries giving in to that pressure, she said, "If economic or political pressure succeeds, the ICC could lose support and, more broadly, international law itself could be weakened."
"Sanctions often sound somewhat abstract, but the consequences for the affected judges are quite concrete," Elies van Sliedregt, professor of criminal law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, told NU.nl. "Judges have no access to payment systems, cannot use their credit cards, and cannot read their emails," van Sliedregt added. ■
