Resources
Sunday, July 3, 2022
  • Login
Journalists for Justice
No Result
View All Result

Browse by Topic:

  • Home
  • Communities of Justice
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Human Rights
  • Elections
  • About US
  • Our Work
  • Careers
No Result
View All Result
Journalists for Justice
  • Home
  • Communities of Justice
  • Opinion & Analysis
  • Human Rights
  • Elections
  • About US
  • Our Work
  • Careers
No Result
View All Result
Journalists for Justice
No Result
View All Result
Home Commentary

Pompeo’s visa ban puts America on collision course with ICC and the UN

Journalists for JusticebyJournalists for Justice
March 15, 2019
in Commentary
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

By Thomas Verfuss

Visa restrictions slapped on staff of the International Criminal Court by the United States go beyond limiting travel opportunities; it could potentially put Washington on a collision course not only with the ICC, but also with the United Nations.

On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced ICC staff linked to investigations of American and Israeli citizens would not receive visas to enter his country.

The US hosts the headquarters of the organization in New York, where world leaders visit each year to meet and talk at the annual session of the UN General Assembly. In the past, there have been conflicts when the US, for political reasons, did not like to welcome leaders like Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Palestine’s Yasser Arafat on their soil. The UN then insisted that they have a headquarters agreement with the US that pledged to facilitate entry for everyone who must be in New York for the proper functioning of the organization.

Though the ICC is not a UN body, it has a relationship with the UN. The UN Security Council can ask the ICC prosecutor to investigate, which it did in the situations of Darfur (Sudan) and Libya. The ICC prosecutor and her staff regularly travel to New York to report on those investigations. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in her function is linked to all situations under ICC scrutiny, thus also to Afghanistan. (An authorization of a pre-trial chamber to open a formal investigation in that country might be published any time soon.)

RelatedStories

Despite challenges, ICC has affirmed role of law and norms in the international system

Fatou Bensouda: The challenges and the record

The highs and lows of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s tenure

Bensouda thus falls under the scope of the visa restrictions the US Secretary announced on Friday. A refusal by the US to give the Gambian jurist a visa to enter the US and deliver her reports in New York might lead to a diplomatic standoff between the US and the UN.

In private conversations ICC staff members have questioned how strong the support of the states parties to the Rome Statute will be when the court comes under increased threat from Washington. The announcement of the opening of a formal investigation into Afghanistan would be a crucial moment of truth to test that support.   

Previous Post

Finding justice for post-election violence crimes at home in Kenya

Next Post

Judge leaves fulltime ICC job before Ntaganda decision comes in

Journalists for Justice

Journalists for Justice

Related Posts

Former ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Photo: © Ilvy Njiokiktjien / VII

Despite challenges, ICC has affirmed role of law and norms in the international system

August 8, 2021
From left to right: the former and first African president of the ICCBA, Chief Charles Taku, former First Vice President of the ICC, Madam Justice Joyce Aluoch, the former President of ICCBA David Hooper, the ASP President, Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, and former Vice-President of ICCBA, Ghislain M. Mabanga. The photo was taken on 20 July 2016 © ICC-CPI

Fatou Bensouda: The challenges and the record

June 16, 2021
Former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda Photo credit © Ilvy Njiokiktjien / VII

The highs and lows of ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s tenure

June 16, 2021
The International Criminal Court (ICC) states parties convene at the World Forum Convention Center in The Hague from December 5-12, 2018, for the 17th session of the Assembly of state parties Credit: The ASP Flickr account

States must take the time to choose the right ICC Prosecutor

February 11, 2021
First time in history: a vote on who becomes new ICC Prosecutor

First time in history: a vote on who becomes new ICC Prosecutor

February 10, 2021
Survivors of sexual violence that occured after the December 2007 presidential election gather at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Kenya during a hearing into a constitutional petiton they filed. The High Court is scheduled to deliver a judgment on that petition on Thursday, December 10, 2020. Credit: Physicians for Human Rights (PHR).

Kenyan SGBV victims wait with bated breath for Thursday’s judgment

December 8, 2020
Next Post
Judge leaves fulltime ICC job before Ntaganda decision comes in

Judge leaves fulltime ICC job before Ntaganda decision comes in

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Login
Notify of
Please login to comment
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
No Result
View All Result

Recent Posts

  • 20 years of the ICC: The hopes, the disappointments, the future
  • Judge to decide Gicheru’s fate after parties conclude case
  • From Kyiv to Kabul and Darfur: Challenges of reporting justice and human rights
  • Gicheru to attend court session remotely
  • After euphoria of state white paper, victims now demand action on Jammeh

Recent Comments

  • JFJ - Journalists for Justice on Kenyan lawyer denies bribery charges at the ICC
  • JFJ - Journalists for Justice on You did me wrong, Bemba tells ICC as he demands 70 million euros
  • JFJ - Journalists for Justice on Two victims’ lawyers in Kenyatta case in line to become next ICC prosecutor
  • JFJ - Journalists for Justice on Profiles of the four people shortlisted for the job of ICC Prosecutor
  • Write My Essay on Afghanistan case fails to take off at the ICC — pragmatism’ or surrender to the powerful?

Archives

Categories

JFJ – Journalists for Justice

We call out impunity wherever it occurs; we advocate justice for all victims of atrocity crimes; and we work with people of goodwill everywhere who share our values.

Browse by Topics:

Archives by Month:

Never Again
INTAHE
BarometreVerite
The Victims' Bantaba
No Result
View All Result
  • Confronting Impunity
  • Communities of Justice
  • Opinion
  • About US
  • Our Work
  • Login

Copyright © 2019. Journalists for Justice has asserted its right to be recognized as creators and owners of the content here. Reproduction in part or in whole is permitted on condition that JFJ is acknowledged and notified.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
wpDiscuz