The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates: Threats and Penalties Against the International Criminal Court are Unacceptable.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates expressed its serious concern over the US administration’s adoption of punitive measures against the International Criminal Court officials, their families and anyone cooperating with the court. The ministry added “This is a dangerous escalation of threats against the court, practiced by the US administration for the past three years.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized that these attempts to influence the court's procedures are unjustified, totally unacceptable and a threat to the principles of international justice and the rules-based system as a whole, and considered that it is unacceptable that such threats and actions come from a country that is considered a permanent member of the Security Council like the United States, considering that the Security Council is a UN body with the authority to raise crimes to the International Criminal Court to ensure accountability for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes.

The Ministry emphasized that it will communicate with the states parties to work to protect the court and its staff, including judges and their families, from any threats or coercion. The Ministry called for urgent measures to be taken to support the court and assist it in facing illegal, provocative and dangerous measures taken by the US administration, in line with the obligations of the state's parties under the Rome Statute, including preserving the court, its independence, impartiality, and credibility.

Moreover, the Ministry affirmed that the protection of the court is a collective responsibility of the state's parties, including protecting the jurisdiction of the court and ensuring accountability for serious crimes, which fall within the jurisdiction of the court, and in a manner that serves justice to the victims of these crimes, the ministry added : "The acts of deliberate bullying by the United States or other states  should not affect or undermine the work  and jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court."