Rights groups sue the Trump administration over ICC sanctions

Human Rights Watch and three other advocacy groups sued the Trump administration on Tuesday to challenge its campaign against the International Criminal Court, arguing that sanctions against ICC judges and prosecutors are undermining the ability to prosecute people responsible for humanity’s worst crimes.

The complaint – filed in the Southern District of New York – says that US President Donald Trump’s executive order last year targeting The Hague-based criminal court and the US sanctions issued against a United Nations human rights expert and three Palestinian rights groups represent a “blatantly illegal attack on international justice and should be struck down”, according to a press release.

The lawsuit is the latest example of organisations pushing back on what they call the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine international law and prevent efforts to combat impunity by governments around the world.

“The fact that so many leading human rights and humanitarian organisations have come together to challenge Trump’s unlawful executive order demonstrates the widespread harm it is causing across civil society groups dedicated to bringing those responsible for grave crimes to justice,” said Andrew Loewenstein of Foley Hoag LLP, the lead counsel representing the plaintiffs.

The groups assert that the financial and legal penalties against the ICC have forced them to “curtail a wide range of human rights and legal work in violation of their First and Fifth Amendment rights under the US Constitution and under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act”.

Other organisations joining the lawsuit are the American Friends Service Committee, the Centre for Constitutional Rights and the Open Society Institute. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.