click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n________________________________________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n
May 22, 2024<\/p>\n
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
\nThe White House
\n1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
\nWashington, D.C. 20500<\/p>\n
Re: Threats to the International Criminal Court<\/p>\n
Dear President Biden:<\/p>\n
We write as organizations with a steadfast commitment to justice for grave international crimes and therefore to the success of the International Criminal Court (ICC). We urge your administration to oppose the threats and calls for punitive actions against the Court that several U.S. lawmakers have recently made. Acting on these calls would do grave harm to the interests of all victims globally and to the U.S. government\u2019s ability to champion human rights and the cause of justice, which are stated priorities of your administration.<\/p>\n
Accountability is important for its own sake and protects against the commission of future atrocity crimes. Acting where it has jurisdiction and within its mandate as a court of last resort, the ICC works together with national authorities to ensure perpetrators of such crimes are held to account and that victims and affected communities find some measure of justice. While the United States is not an ICC member country, Republican and Democratic administrations have supported the Court in specific cases, and the U.S. has assisted arrest operations to bring justice to victims in central Africa. Your own administration has recognized the Court\u2019s essential role to address serious crimes in Ukraine and Darfur.<\/p>\n
We are alarmed by threats that U.S. lawmakers have aimed at the Court in recent weeks including the letter sent on April 24 by Senators, threatening to sanction the ICC prosecutor\u2019s \u201cemployees and associates,\u201d if steps were taken to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials. On May 20, the ICC prosecutor requested warrants for leaders of Hamas and Israeli officials stemming from his ongoing Palestine investigation; ICC judges will assess the request to determine whether to issue warrants.<\/p>\n
The previous administration\u2019s sanctions against the prosecutor\u2019s predecessor were an affront to justice and threatened to undermine the ICC\u2019s effective functioning. A U.S. federal district judge held that the sanctions threatened the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens working to support justice before the ICC. Regrettably, those sanctions aligned the United States with authoritarian tactics of threatening judges and independent judicial institutions.<\/p>\n
The ability of the ICC to provide justice for victims requires full respect for its independence. A selective approach to judicial decisions undermines the credibility, and ultimately, the force of the law as a shield against human rights violations and abuses. Your administration appeared to recognize this in repealing the Trump-era sanctions, noting that U.S. concerns \u201cwould be better addressed through engagement with all stakeholders in the ICC process.\u201d We urge you to ensure that any disagreement about the Court\u2019s process is pursued through proper judicial channels under the Court\u2019s treaty.<\/p>\n
We welcomed press statements by your administration in recent weeks indicating that it does not support \u201cthreats or intimidation\u201d of ICC officials. U.S. allies have condemned the threat of sanctions and expressed support for the Court, as have 45 United Nations experts on human rights in a joint statement. We urge you to oppose any legislative efforts to undermine the ICC, and to make clear that regardless of its views on specific ICC investigations, the United States continues to support independent international justice mechanisms.<\/p>\n
Sincerely,<\/p>\n
Action Corps (US)
\nAdehsur
\nThe Advocates for Human Rights (US)
\nThe African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (Sudan)
\nAfrican Francophone Coalitions for the ICC
\nAlliance for Peacebuilding
\nAmerican Association for the International Commission of Jurists
\nAmerican Friends Service Committee
\nAmnesty International USA
\nAotearoa Lawyers for Peace (New Zealand)
\nArab Canadian Lawyers Association (Canada)
\nAsociaci\u00f3n Nacional de Centros de Investigaci\u00f3n, promoci\u00f3n social y desarrollo (Peru)
\nAsociaci\u00f3n Pro Derechos Humanos (Peru)
\nAssociation of Reintegration of Crimea (Ukraine and France)
\nAtrocities Watch Africa
\nAustralian Centre for International Justice (Australia)
\nayus Network of Buddhists Volunteers on International Cooperation (Japan)
\nBarah Aamen (Egypt)
\nBasel Peace Office (Switzerland)
\nBDS Tokyo (Japan)
\nBrooklyn For Peace (US)
\nCaminos de la Memoria (Peru)
\nCanadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (Canada)
\nCenter for Civilians in Conflict
\nCenter for Constitutional Rights (US)
\nCenter for Egyptian Women\u2019s Legal Assistance (Egypt)
\nCenter for International Policy
\nCentro de Desarrollo \u00c9tnico (Peru)
\nCentro de Investigaci\u00f3n de Cr\u00edmenes Atroces (Mexico)
\nCentro de Investigaci\u00f3n y Promoci\u00f3n de los Derechos Humanos (Honduras)
\nCentro de Prevenci\u00f3n Tratamiento y Rehabilitaci\u00f3n de las V\u00edctimas de la Tortura y sus
\nFamiliares (Honduras)
\nCentro Investigaci\u00f3n Capacitaci\u00f3n Asesor\u00eda y Promoci\u00f3n (Peru)
\nChernobyl Hibakusha Support, Kansai (Japan)
\nCitizens for Global Solutions (US)
\nColectivo por los Derechos de las Personas Adultas Mayores (Peru)
\nComisi\u00f3n de Derechos Humanos de El Salvador (El Salvador)
\nComisi\u00f3n de Justicia Social (Peru)
\nCorporaci\u00f3n Humanas Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos y Justicia de G\u00e9nero (Colombia)
\nDarfur Women Action Group
\nDemand Progress Education Fund (US)
\nDerechos Humanos y Medio Ambiente (Peru)
\nDominican Leadership Conference (US)
\nDue Process of Law Foundation (US)
\nEgyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (Egypt)
\nEgyptian Human Rights Forum (France)
\nEgyptians Without Borders Foundation (Egypt)
\nEleanor Lives! (US)
\nEnsaaf (US)
\nFundaci\u00f3n Ecum\u00e9nica Para el Desarollo y la Paz (Peru)
\nGanoubia Hora (Egypt)
\nGlobal Centre for the Responsibility to Protect
\nGlobal Justice Center
\nGrupo de Iniciativa Nacional por los Derechos del Ni\u00f1o
\nHistorians for Peace and Democracy (US)
\nHuman Rights Center, UC Berkeley (US)
\nHuman Rights First (US)
\nHuman Rights Now (Japan)
\nHuman Rights Watch
\niACT
\nInstitute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention
\nInstitute for the Study of Genocide
\nInstituto de Defensa Legal (Peru)
\nInstituto de Democracia y Derechos Humanos de la Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Per\u00fa
\nInternational Criminal Court Alliance (US)
\nInternational Federation for Human Rights
\nJ Street (US)
\nJapan Campaign to Ban Landmines (Japan)
\nJapan International Volunteer Center
\nJust Foreign Policy (US)
\nKYOTO AALA (Japan)
\nLaboratorio de Paz (Venezuela)
\nLaw and Democracy Support Foundation (Germany)
\nLawyers Alert (Nigeria)
\nLegal Pact for the Future
\nMedia Initiative for Human Rights (Ukraine)
\nMiddle East Democracy Center
\nMinnesota Peace Project (US)
\nMovement Medicine Japan
\nMovimiento Jatarishun (Peru)
\nMPower Change Action Fund
\nNational Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd United States
\nNetwork Against Japan Arms Trade
\nNetwork for Peace in Syria (Japan)
\nNever Again Coalition (US)
\nNo Business With Genocide (US)
\nNo Peace Without Justice
\nParliamentarians for Global Action
\nPassionists International (US)
\nPax Christi (US)
\nPaz y Esperanza (Peru)
\nPeace Action (US)
\nPeace Direct (US)
\nPiece of Syria (Japan)
\nPlataforma de Comercio Justo y Consumo \u00c9tico Per\u00fa (Peru)
\nPlataforma por la Democracia (Peru)
\nPresbyterian Church (USA)
\nPrograma Venezolano de Educaci\u00f3n Acci\u00f3n en Derechos Humanos (Venezuela)
\nRed para la Infancia y la Familia \u2013 Peru
\nREDRESS Trust
\nThe Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in Southwest Asia and North
\nAfrica
\nR\u00e9seau Equitas C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire
\nRobert F. Kennedy Human Rights
\nThe Sentry
\nSinai Foundation for Human Rights (Egypt)
\nSisters of Mercy of the Americas \u2013 Justice Team
\nStoptheDrugWar.org (US)
\nSudan Human Rights Network
\nThe United Church of Christ (US)
\nUkrainian Legal Aid Foundation (Ukraine)
\nUS Campaign for Palestinian Rights
\nVeterans For Peace (US)
\nWin Without War (US)
\nWITNESS
\nWomen for Weapons Trade Transparency
\nWomen\u2019s Active Museum on War and Peace (Japan)
\nWomen\u2019s Initiatives for Gender Justice
\nWorld Federalist Movement \u2013 Institute for Global Policy
\nWorld Service Authority
\nWorld Without Genocide (US)
\nYMCA of Japan
\nZarga Organization for Rural Development (Sudan)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On May 22, 121 human rights NGOs and civil society organizations, including Human Rights Now, sent a joint letter to the White House (President Biden), urging him to oppose any legislative efforts to undermine the ICC, and to make clear that regardless of its views on specific ICC investigations, the United States continues to support independent international justice mechanisms. To download full text, click here. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ May 22, 2024 President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, D.C. 20500 Re: Threats to the International Criminal Court Dear President Biden: We write as organizations with a steadfast commitment to justice for grave international crimes and therefore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,13],"tags":[138,15,17],"countries":[242,236],"class_list":["post-7509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-information","category-statement","tag-armed-conflict","tag-extrajudicial-killings-war-crime-and-crimes-against-humanity","tag-human-rights-violation-under-armed-conflictsmilitary-operation","countries-palestine-opt","countries-usa"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7509"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7520,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7509\/revisions\/7520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7509"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrn.or.jp\/eng\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=7509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}