Ironically, the targeting of the ICC may actually get members of the administration or congressional allies in the war on the court in trouble. Article 70 of the Rome Statute criminalizes impeding, intimidating, or corruptly influencing any ICC official as part of an effort to prevent them from performing their duties or retaliate against them for having done so, a provision that even applies to non-signatories.
In his op-ed last month, Rubio claimed the ICC “threatens every aspect of our political and legal system.” He insisted that the ICC and its supporters are “waging a war against our country, not with bullets or missiles, but with statutes, compacts, and the force of so-called international law.” To address this alleged threat, he announced a new diplomatic campaign that will not only increase the administration’s pressure against the ICC, but will also withdraw foreign aid and impose other penalties on countries that continue to cooperate with it.
While the United States is among the minority of the world’s countries to have never joined the ICC, it has been pressuring member countries to pull out. The Trump administration during its first term successfully pressured the Philippines to withdraw in 2019. The U.S. pressured Hungary to announce its withdrawal last year, and Venezuela and Chad to announce their withdrawals last month, after Rubio announced his campaign against the court. Like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, both Venezuela and Chad mentioned allegations of “bias” against the court, but Chad specifically referenced a request from the U.S. to review its membership.