Reject ICC-related Sanctions: A Call to Protect Victims and Uphold Justice

The recent sanctions imposed by the United States (US) administration on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) officials including judges, but also UN mandate holders, and Palestinian human rights organisations - including Al Haq, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), and, under a separate sanction programme, Addameer - represent a direct assault on international justice. Above all, these sanctions threaten the rights of millions of victims of international crimes and survivors across the world. Credible sources have indicated that the US administration might sanction the Court as an institution. More than 220 civil society organisations, academics, and other stakeholders condemned this development in a joint statement, in addition to many other public efforts to denounce sanctions.

Around the world, including in Palestine, human rights organisations operate in contexts of mass human rights violations, where they are themselves under constant threat of human rights abuses, including arrest, torture, enforced disappearance, displacement, and killing. Sanctioning organisations working on documenting human rights violations, profoundly impacts the communities, victims and survivors they support in their work. Yet, they remain some of the only actors capable of accessing victims and witnesses, building trust with the affected communities, and linking them to international justice mechanisms.

"The life of almost every single Palestinian in Gaza has been shattered over the last two years, including those of my colleagues in Palestinian civil society. Some have been killed. Others have been injured. Those who are still alive have lost many loved ones and everything they worked and planned for. At the same time, those who have survived have been working tirelessly to document the atrocities while constantly displaced from one place to the other and deprived of the minimum requirements of survival, including food, water, and adequate shelter. Instead of receiving the much needed support, they have to deal, on top of everything, with sanctions. These sanctions are part of the erasure of Palestinians and will not only impact our colleagues but also the direct victims of international crimes and their ability to receive some sort of justice for this live-streamed genocide" - A Palestinian human rights defender forcibly displaced from Gaza.

Silencing human rights organisations on the ground in Palestine severs the link between victims and international justice actors. Without their work, a complete vacuum emerges in gathering testimonies, engaging with the ICC, and advocating for justice and accountability for survivors of mass atrocities. To attack these organisations is to attempt to erase the victims they serve and entrench impunity.

"These are attacks on the entire human rights movement globally and an attempt to silence victims of genocide and organisations documenting crimes against Palestinians. It is part and parcel of Israel’s apartheid, genocide and campaign of erasure against the Palestinian people." Statement from Al-Haq and Al Mezan 

Furthermore, sanctions imposed against ICC officials and judges have already had repercussions across ICC situations, making it difficult for staff, counsel representing victims before the Court, and human rights organisations to engage with sanctioned officials.

By sanctioning those working for justice, states send a chilling message to victims: that power, not the rule of law, decides who deserves justice. These sanctions set an extremely dangerous precedent for victims all around the world. 

"The sanctions have affected civil society actors in multiple situation countries -including Afghanistan, Palestine, Sudan, and the Philippines - restricting their engagement with the ICC, limiting access to international support, and delaying justice for victims of grave human rights violations. In Afghanistan, survivors of crimes committed under the Taliban’s de facto regime faced heightened vulnerability. The sanctions hindered documentation of atrocities, including gender-based persecution and arbitrary detentions, leaving victims isolated and justice delayed."

- The Afghanistan Organization for Development of Human Rights (AODHR)

The reach of sanctions beyond Afghanistan and Palestine has created uncertainty among NGOs and victims' groups globally on how to continue supporting the work of the Court without risking retaliation.

"U.S. sanctions on the ICC may undermine protection for victims of war crimes worldwide, including in Ukraine, by limiting the Court’s resources and capacity to act effectively. They also risk further politicising the Court, potentially slowing investigations and eroding victims’ trust in international justice mechanisms" - The Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association “JurFem”.

If institutional sanctions are imposed on the ICC, it will further impact the ability of millions of victims and survivors around the world to achieve justice through the world's only international criminal court.

"As of now, the ICC represents the only path toward justice when domestic systems have failed, like for the victims in the Philippines. Sanctions against the Court do not punish perpetrators. Rather, they punish victims, delaying truth, accountability, and hope for justice for thousands of Filipino families" - Philippines Coalition for the International Criminal Court (PCICC)

“The grave situation in Sudan—especially in Darfur and El-Fashir—shows why the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) mandate, enshrined in the Rome Statute, must be defended and not punished for its actions. With local justice collapsed and survivors facing relentless violence, the ICC is the only means of accountability for the international community. Sanctioning the Court forsakes survivors of genocide, sexual violence, and ethnic cleansing while reducing justice to a matter of choice” - International Community Care ICC e.V

We reiterate the previous "Save the ICC" statement and we call on ICC States Parties to urgently protect victims, survivors and those who serve them directly by:

• Publicly and firmly rejecting sanctions against human rights organisations, including explicitly the four Palestinian organisations already designated and other human rights and international justice actors and entities.
• Strongly advocating for the US Administration to revoke designations against the four Palestinian human rights organisations, and other human rights and international justice actors, including against judges and other officials at the ICC, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in the interest of victims worldwide, the international rule of law, and the global fight against impunity.
• Bilaterally engaging with the US Administration to prevent further designations against human rights organisations and other human rights and international justice actors and entities supporting victims around the world.
• Enforcing and strengthening the EU Blocking Statute and similar national measures to shield banks, insurers, and service providers from secondary sanctions.
• Continue supporting the work of civil society working on justice and accountability as well as the Court to ensure that they can continue their vital mandate in the interests of victims globally.
• Protecting and resourcing human rights defenders, CSOs and the Court, recognising that safeguarding those who pursue justice is inseparable from protecting victims and survivors, and affirming that standing with victims is a right that must be upheld through political, diplomatic and financial support.
• Defending the ICC’s independence and mandate to ensure accountability, promote lasting peace, and protect civilians worldwide while rejecting any measures that weaken justice, enable impunity or enshrine double standards.

History will judge how the international community responds when justice is under attack. Standing with victims and survivors is more than a legal obligation or moral imperative, it is their inherent right. Upholding this right affirms their dignity, protects their humanity, and ensures that justice is not denied to those who need it most.

About the Victims' Rights Working Group (VRWG)

The VRWG is a network of 179 civil society organisations working to uphold the rights and interests of victims in International Criminal Court (ICC) proceedings. Co-led by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and REDRESS and hosted by the Coalition for the ICC, the VRWG was reconvened in 2024 to renew its engagement on victims’ rights at the ICC, including contributing to the Court’s review of its 2012 Victims’ Strategy.

*Please note that the contents of this statement do not necessarily reflect the views of all individual members of the Victims Rights Working Group.