ICC Sanctions: EFF Condemns US Attack on Global Justice

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has condemned the U.S. government’s recent extension of sanctions against judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Trump administration has repeatedly imposed punitive measures against the ICC and its staff, most recently targeting two additional judges following Israel’s challenge to a war crimes probe in Gaza.

Attack on Judicial Independence

The EFF has labeled the move a “brazen attack on judicial independence,” arguing it represents an attempt by a non-state party to the Rome Statute to interfere with an international institution tasked with ending impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The party asserts the sanctions are part of a larger pattern of U.S. behavior that undermines international law, weakens multilateral institutions, and protects allies from accountability despite credible allegations of serious violations.

Implications for Global Security

The EFF maintains that this conduct has significant implications for global peace and security, warning that intimidating judicial bodies sets a dangerous precedent. “By wielding sanctions as an instrument to intimidate and coerce independent judicial bodies, the United States sets a precedent that emboldens those who commit atrocities, weakens the rule of law, and diminishes the prospects for victims of the world’s gravest crimes to see justice done,” the party stated.

The EFF also criticized what it described as an increase in aggression, coercive diplomacy, and a reckless expansion of U.S. imperial interests under the Trump administration, which it claims destabilizes the international order and jeopardizes the safety of the global majority.

Call for Global Action

The EFF has called on all U.S. allies and democratic governments to isolate and condemn the United States in response to what it describes as interference in the work of the ICC. “The world cannot tolerate a system where the powerful decide who is subject to justice and who is above it,” the party stated.