Law professor who helped draft Rome Statute accuses Washington of ICC double standard
Speaking on BBC World Service, a human rights lawyer and professor of international law, Philippe Sands, who helped draft the preamble to the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, accused the United States of applying a “double standard” to the ICC, arguing that Washington supports the court when it targets geopolitical rivals but opposes it when it investigates allies.
Philippe SandsSands noted that the U.S. Senate strongly supported ICC efforts to investigate alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine before Washington strongly opposed the ICC after its prosecutor sought arrest warrants for three Hamas members and two Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“If you’re indicting our opponents or our enemies, that’s one thing, that’s fine. But if you indict our friends or our supporters, that’s a real problem,” Sands said. “What you see with that, frankly, is an evident double standard.”
He said that U.S. opposition to the court predates the current administration.
“The United States has always had a strong strand of opinion that does not like the idea of international courts exercising jurisdiction over Americans or U.S. interests,” Sands said.
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Explaining how the court operates, Sands said that the ICC has jurisdiction only in limited circumstances, including crimes committed on the territory of a state party, crimes committed by nationals of a state party, or cases referred by the U.N. Security Council.
He said the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed on Ukrainian territory because Ukraine has accepted the ICC’s jurisdiction, allowing prosecutors in The Hague to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity regardless of the suspects’ nationality.
He also questioned whether Washington’s efforts to pressure allies into distancing themselves from the ICC would succeed, saying the international legal system ultimately serves U.S. interests.
Sands said criticism of the ICC is legitimate, including concerns that its early investigations disproportionately targeted African suspects. However, he said allegations that the court is institutionally biased against the United States are not supported by its record.
“There is no country in the world that is more dependent on a system of international rules and treaties than the United States,” Sands said.
To provide background, on 13 July 2026, the United States administration announced a campaign to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick”, including increased sanctions against the ICC and affiliated organisations, travel bans and visa revocations for ICC staff, and leveraging U.S. diplomacy and assistance to encourage ICC states parties to withdraw or oppose it.
Ukrainian survivor groups, victim associations, and Ukrainian civil society organisations have urged all Rome Statute states parties to defend the International Criminal Court against a U.S.-led campaign to “dismantle” it. The statement, signed by dozens of organisations, including the 5 AM Coalition, representing 38 civil society groups, and the Tribunal for Putin Initiative, with more than 30 member organisations, warns that American pressure threatens victims’ last remaining avenue for justice.
The signatories noted that the ICC has issued arrest warrants against Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and other senior Russian officials for crimes committed during the war against Ukraine. Ukrainian civil society groups stressed that without the ICC, no other mechanism, including the proposed Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, can guarantee justice for crimes of such scale and gravity.
The statement draws a direct parallel between U.S. actions and Russian behaviour, noting that sanctions already imposed by Washington against ICC Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutors, judges and affiliated human rights organisations echo Russia’s practice of sentencing ICC officials in absentia. Signatories called on ICC member states and the European Union to adopt concrete protective measures, including domestic and regional blocking statutes, and to engage Washington diplomatically to reverse the campaign.
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