The United States on Friday lifted sanctions on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) senior members, including a prosecutor who had launched an investigation into alleged war crimes by US military personnel in Afghanistan.
Announcing the decision, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that assessment concluded that the measures adopted by the previous administration “were inappropriate and ineffective.”
The Trump administration had imposed financial sanctions and a US visa ban on the ICC’s Gambian-born chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda last year after she launched an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by American forces in Afghanistan, according to US media reports.
ICC also pressed ahead with an investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories by Israel.
Blinken said the United States sees accountability for atrocities as a national security interest, and pointed to US support for other, often temporary, tribunals globally, according to the Associated Press report.
