Magazine article
The Trump administration wants to dismantle the International Criminal Court. Can it?
The Conversation, Vol.15 July 2026
2026
Appears in The Conversation
Abstract
On Monday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote a blistering missive in the Wall Street Journal unveiling plans to dismantle the International Criminal Court (ICC). He claimed it threatened “US soldiers, police officers, Border Patrol agents and elected leaders” under international laws that “we neither consent to nor control”.
The State Department then unveiled the steps it would take to target the court, which include pressuring allies to resist ICC attempts to prosecute Americans, travel bans on ICC officials, and increased sanctions on the court.
The State Department called the court an “intolerable threat to US sovereignty”.
But Rubio’s claims show a wilful ignorance of international law, out of step with someone of his office.
For example, the four core international crimes under the ICC’s jurisdiction – genocide, aggression, crimes against humanity and war crimes – are considered a “peremptory norm”. This means they are universally applicable to all states, and no country can choose to violate or ignore them.
Ironically, Rubio is also seeking to override the sovereignty of all the states that have joined the ICC. As Kenneth Roth, the former head of Human Right Watch, has said, Rubio is ignoring “the sovereign right of other nations to invoke the ICC for crimes committed on their territory.”
So, what exactly can the US do to the court, and why do these threats matter?
Details
- Title
- The Trump administration wants to dismantle the International Criminal Court. Can it?
- Authors
- Shannon Brincat - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- The Conversation, Vol.15 July 2026
- Publisher
- Conversation Media Group
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.64628/AA.dn53yf73w
- ISSN
- 2201-5639
- Copyright note
- © The Conversation Media Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Organisation Unit
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; School of Law and Society; Sustainability Research Cluster
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991247999502621
- Output Type
- Magazine article
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