Trump attack on Hague court seen as bolstering world’s despots

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — In a city that symbolizes international peace and justice, the ambassador from Burundi has had a lonely job. As her government faces accusations of murder, rape and torture, she has made the unpopular argument that the International Criminal Court should butt out.

The ambassador, Vestine Nahimana, says the court is a politicized, unchecked intrusion on Burundi’s sovereignty. “It’s difficult,” Nahimana said in an interview here. “In a way, we’ve been isolated.”

No longer. Her critiques echo those of warlords and despots whose arguments have long been dismissed by the West. But Burundi’s position got a powerful voice of support this week from President Donald Trump, whose national security adviser, John R. Bolton, declared the international court “ineffective, unaccountable, and indeed, outright dangerous,” and threatened sanctions against the court’s prosecutors and judges who pursued cases against Americans.

“We can only rejoice that another country has seen the same wrong,” Nahimana said. “Perhaps this will be a message that the sovereignty of a country must be respected, in the U.S. and in other countries. That’s also what the White House asks.”

For the Trump administration, Bolton’s speech was the latest example of disdain for global organizations and — in this case — taking the same side as strongmen and dictators. But for the International Criminal Court, a relatively young institution, the new White House policy of open hostility comes at a perilous time.

The court, which opened in 2002, was envisioned as the world’s permanent judicial body for cases of war crimes, genocide and other crimes against humanity. But a former prosecutor has faced accusations of corruption, and the court’s record has been spotty.

Only eight people have been convicted and other cases have collapsed or been withdrawn. The most significant conviction, the warcrimes case against the former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, was overturned because of legal errors.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo has a nagging, constant feeling of unease. It’s a new reality, he said, brought on by last year’s Oct. 1 massacre on the Strip and reinforced with regularity by other mass shootings, such as in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe, Texas.

“It keeps me up at night, wondering if we’re doing everything possible to protect our children; protect our community,” Lombardo said Wednesday in a meeting with the Sun’s editorial board. “We have to be comfortable in our own skin, I guess.”

“I think the world is changing. You’re starting to see events that have never happened in our lifetime … and for unknown reasons,” he said, noting the gruesome nature of some of the violent crime being inflicted on completely innocent victims in Clark County and the rest of the country.

The editorial board meeeting took place less than three weeks before the one-year anniversary of the Route 91 Harvest Festival shooting, in which 58 people were killed and more than 800 others were injured before the shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, turned a gun on himself. During Wednesday’s meeting, Lombardo addressed a number of other issues affecting Metro Police.

STEVE MARCUS