Marco Rubio says the administration will try to “dismantle” the ICC. Who is he trying to protect? The highest compliment that can be paid to the International Criminal Court is that the Trump administration is terrified of it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed that fear this week by declaring that the administration would use “all the tools at our government’s disposal” to “dismantle” the ICC. “The ICC is backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the U.S.,” Rubio claimed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Monday. He warned that ICC investigations into U.S. officials’ alleged crimes “would mean the death of the U.S. as a sovereign and independent nation.” This line of attack is less about American interests than the personal interests of many top Trump administration officials. Thanks to the Supreme Court and Trump’s pardon power, they might never be held accountable in U.S. courts for their alleged crimes after Trump leaves office in 2029. Now they seek total impunity for themselves—and other war criminals around the world. The ICC, which is based in The Hague, came into being in 2002 after more than 100 countries ratified the Rome Statute. Under that treaty, the court has jurisdiction to prosecute and try people for committing various crimes under international law, ranging from war crimes to genocide. Most of its prosecutions to date have targeted dictators and warlords in Africa and Asia. Prior international tribunals, like the ones in Cambodia, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia, tended to be ad hoc affairs under the aegis of the United Nations. (The U.N. has its own court, but it is designed for arbitration between countries, not criminal prosecutions.) By establishing the ICC, world leaders hoped to create a permanent mechanism for punishing crimes against humanity and crimes against peace. The United States helped build most of the post–World War II infrastructure for international law and diplomacy. But it has always had an uneasy relationship with the ICC. The U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute, so the court does not have automatic jurisdiction over alleged offenses committed by U.S. officials. As Rubio noted in his op-ed, President Bill Clinton declined to submit the treaty to the Senate for approval during his tenure because it was unlikely to achieve the two-thirds majority needed for ratification.
via newrepublic: Trumpworld Is Scared of the International Criminal Court
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