World / US approves sanctions on Int’l Criminal Court employees over Afghan probe

india.com : Jun 12, 2020, 09:28 AM
Washington: United States President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executed order and authorised the US sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) employees who started an investigation alleging war crimes committed by the American military forces in Afghanistan.

Giving out no details, the Trump administration said that the investigation was being “pushed forward by an organisation od dubious integrity”. The official was referring to the Hague-based tribunal and accused Russia of possibly having a role in the investigation.

The order sent by Trump to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi authorised US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to choke assets of the involved ICC employees and also block their entry into the country.

“The International Criminal Court was established to provide accountability for war crimes, but in practice, it has been an unaccountable and ineffective international bureaucracy that targets and threatens United States personnel as well as personnel of our allies and partners,” White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement.

“We are concerned that adversary nations are manipulating the International Criminal Court by encouraging these allegations against United States personnel. Further, we have strong reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the International Criminal Court Office of the Prosecutor, calling into question the integrity of its investigation into American service members,” McEnany added.

The Afghanistan war crime case involves allegations of crimes committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani network militants, as well as U.S. forces and intelligence officials who have been operating in Afghanistan since May 2003.

Notably,  since assuming office, Trump has withdrawn from multiple international treaties starting with the Paris climate deal, the Iranian nuclear deal and arms control treaties with Russia. He also pulled the US out of the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and recently cut ties with the World Health Organisation (WHO).

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