Dismissal of ICC prosecutor further fragilises the court
Following sexual harassment accusations against its prosecutor, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is under renewed attack by the US. Its Secretary of State has vowed to dismantle it.
At the end of July, the member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted to dismiss Prosecutor Karim Khan over allegations of sexual misconduct.
Based in the Dutch city, The Hague, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. Although it operates independently, the court has a cooperation agreement with the United Nations.
His dismissal comes at a particularly challenging time for the court. Alongside the lengthy disciplinary process, the ICC has faced an unprecedented campaign aimed at weakening, and in some cases dismantling, the institution.
“This is a first for the ICC and a serious moment, but it also demonstrates that no official can evade the integrity requirements of the Rome Statute,” said Eric Tistounet, former Chief of the Human Rights Council Branch at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The Rome Statute is the international treaty that established the ICC in 1998 and entered into force in 2002.
Khan was elected by the member states in 2021 for a nine-year term and was suspended in June pending disciplinary proceedings.
The ICC’s oversight body concluded that Khan had committed a “serious breach of duty and serious misconduct” through an improper sexual relationship. In reaching their decision, member states also relied on an investigative report by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and a legal assessment of the investigation by a panel of judges.
Khan has repeatedly denied all allegations against him. His lawyers criticised the disciplinary proceedings as unfair.
During his tenure, Khan requested arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders who have since been killed.
The warrants are unaffected by Khan’s dismissal.
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Delegitimisation campaign
The dismissal comes on the back of a US-led campaign supported by Israel to weaken the institution.
In 2025, the administration of American President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on several ICC judges and prosecutors. The move was linked to investigations into alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and by Israel in Gaza.
In mid-July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed a campaign to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick.” He argued that the court interferes with US military and law enforcement operations threatening American sovereignty.
Although the United States and Israel signed the Rome Statute in 2000, neither country ratified it.
Rubio’s WSJ article pushed the United Nations to reaffirm the ICC’s central role in the global fight against impunity for serious crimes.
“Although the ICC is an organisation independent of the United Nations, it remains a crucial cog in the international legal system for us,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in New York.
Tistounet, who is also the founder of the Lake Room Initiative in Geneva, a platform for UN ambassadors to engage in informal dialogue on human rights, believes the campaign aimed at undermining its ability to function.
“The sanctions against its judges, prosecutors and staff are unacceptable and demonstrate a disregard for international law,” he said.
He describes US sanctions against the court’s judges, prosecutors, and staff as unacceptable and as evidence of disregard for international law.
Marc Finaud, Senior Advisor and Associate Fellow at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), shares this view. “Any proceedings that risk damaging the Court’s reputation should be based strictly on legal grounds and should not be exploited for political or diplomatic purposes,” he says.
Trump’s dislike of the ICC is not new. During his first term the US President revokedExternal link the US travel visa of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and later sanctionedExternal link her and a senior member of her staff over the court’s Afghanistan investigation, an inquiry that put potential US. culpability on the table.
His successor Joe Biden later liftedExternal link those sanctions.
When Trump returned to the White House in 2024, he authorised asset freezes and US visa restrictions on anyone aiding ICC efforts to investigate or prosecute “protected persons,” meaning US nationals and the citizens of allied non-member states.
In June, three sanctioned ICC judges suedExternal link the Trump administration in New York federal court. Roughly 30 days later came Rubio’s op-ed.
Finaud says the Trump administration’s hostility toward the ICC stems from fears that American civilian or military leaders could face prosecution for international crimes allegedly committed during overseas operations, or for supporting actions carried out by Israel against civilians in Gaza.
“The dismissal of Prosecutor Khan will naturally be used by the US Secretary of State to reinforce his campaign,” Finaud says.
Tistounet argues that states committed to the principles of the international criminal justice, especially mediating countries such as Switzerland and middle powers, should work together to support the court and resist efforts to delegitimise it.
“International criminal justice is one of the pillars of our international society.”
The EU, as well as Germany and Canada, backed the ICC after Rubio’s threats. “We are strongly committed to international criminal justice and the fight against impunity. Attacks or threats against the court-elected officials, personnel or those cooperating with the court, are simply not acceptable,” EU spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said.
Allegations of Israeli Influence
According to several Israeli media outlets citing anonymous sources, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar allegedly played an active role in efforts to secure Khan’s resignation.
Tistounet, however, stresses that claims that Israel orchestrated Khan’s removal are not supported by proven facts.
“The pressure and sanctions directed at the court are unacceptable and extremely harmful,” he notes, “but they do not justify the conclusion that Israel could command the votes of 82 states parties against only 13.”
The importance of international justice
According to Finaud, the attacks on the ICC by states accused of international crimes underscore the importance of the court’s mandate.
“Khan’s removal will not put an end to the court’s vital mission.”
He argues that ICC decisions help deter parties to armed conflicts from violating international humanitarian law and committing atrocities, particularly against civilians.
Tistounet believes some states, especially the US as a global power, are attempting to undermine the “fundamental norms of our international society.”
“In the face of this offensive, we must place the victims back at the center of attention.”
The ICC, he says, exists to provide justice for victims of the gravest crimes and to prosecute those responsible. “No one is above the law.”
For Tistounet, what is at stake is the survival of an international order based on law rather than force.
Finaud remains optimistic. Apart from a small number of countries, including several African states and Venezuela, which withdrew from the Rome Statute because of concerns about war crimes allegations and pressure from the United States, he believes it is unlikely that most ICC members share Washington’s goal of dismantling the court.
“It is unlikely that the US objective of abolishing the ICC is supported by the majority of its member states.”
Edited by Virginie Mangin/ds
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