U.S. repeals sanctions on International Criminal Court

President Joe Biden's administration lifted sanctions and visa restrictions imposed by his predecessor on employees of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Friday an assessment concluded "the measures adopted were inappropriate and ineffective."

The punitive measures, which included the blocking of financial assets in the U.S., were imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump as the ICC began to investigate U.S. troops for potential war crimes in Afghanistan.

Among Trump's main targets was ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC's jurisdiction, complementarity and cooperation division, while visa restrictions were also imposed on other court personnel.

At the time, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the ICC a "thoroughly broken and corrupted institution."

The Hague-based court was established in 2002 by the international community — with the U.S. declining to join — to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity in places where perpetrators might not otherwise face justice.

Blinken said the Biden administration maintains Washington's "longstanding objection to the court’s efforts to assert jurisdiction over personnel of non-states parties such as the United States and Israel."

But, he said, "our concerns about these cases would be better addressed through engagement with all stakeholders in the ICC process rather than through the imposition of sanctions."

The ICC in March 2020 gave the green light to an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014, including those allegedly committed by U.S. forces and the CIA, prompting the Trump administration to promise countermeasures.