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PRESS CONFERENCE – From Words to Action: Shielding the ICC and Civil Society from US Sanctions
14 April - 16:30 - 18:00
Date: Tuesday, 14 April
Time: 16:30 – 18:00
Location: Brussels Press Club, Rue Froissart 95, 1040 Brussels
Registration: Online at this link (free)
Co-sponsors: Al-Haq, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Amnesty International, Avocats Sans Frontières, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), EUmans, EuroMed Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), No Peace Without Justice and 11:11:11.
About the press conference:
On 6 February 2025, less than a month after the beginning of his second term, the United States (US) President Donald Trump issued Executive Order (EO)
14203 “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC)” and designated the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan for his work on the investigations in the Palestine and Afghanistan
situations. Since then, eight ICC judges and two deputy prosecutors, three Palestinian organisations and a United Nations Special Rapporteur were designated under the same EO.
By using sanctions against the entire international justice ecosystem, the US is targeting justice efforts for the world’s most serious crimes. Due to US dominance in global finance and IT services, these sanctions have a deep impact all around the world for those directly targeted, and ultimately for victims of international crimes, especially in Palestine and Afghanistan.
Over the past months, the Secretariat of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) drafted a report on the impact of US sanctions against the Court and those cooperating with it. To be centered around the voices of those affected, all individuals and organisations that were designated under EO 14203 were interviewed. In the week leading to the launch of the report, the directors of the three designated Palestinian organisations, Al Haq, PCHR and Al Mezan, will be present in Europe to call for concrete actions.
In the face of such unprecedented attacks, civil society organisations and grassroot movements around the world have mobilised and advocated against these measures and for the adoption of the EU blocking statute. A European-wide mobilisation and a Satyagraha (a citizen-led relay fasting) are underway and represent a grassroots push to prompt European institutions to take concrete action.
The EU must move beyond generic political statements of support and demand the activation of the EU Blocking Statute (Regulation 2271/96) to protect NGOs, the International Criminal Court and those working on justice and accountability from the extraterritorial effect of US unilateral sanctions.
The following organisations are participating in the press conference and calling for the EU Commission to adopt the EU blocking statute: Al-Haq, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Amnesty International, Avocats Sans Frontières, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC), EUmans, EuroMed Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), No Peace Without Justice and 11:11:11.