Effectiveness of Trump’s sanctions depends on member states’ resolve to defend ICC

Eric Witte, a former ICC official and external relations adviser to former ICC president Judge Sang-Hyun Song, has told Al Jazeera from Brussels that “a lot depends on whether the 125 countries that are party to the Rome statute which created the ICC choose to block the worst effects of this action”. “But if they don’t defend the court, [Trump’s] executive order poses an existential threat to the ICC’s ability to function, not just in the situation of Palestine, but in all situations before the court, including Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan and others,” he said.