Executive Order 14203
| "Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court" | |
 | |
 Front page of Executive Order 14203 | |
| Type | Executive order |
|---|---|
| Number | 14203 |
| President | Donald Trump |
| Signed | February 6, 2025 |
| Summary | |
| Order imposing sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague, the Netherlands | |
Executive Order 14203, titled "Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court", is an executive order signed by United States president Donald Trump on February 6, 2025. The order imposes sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague, Netherlands.[1][2]
The order includes visa restrictions and financial penalties for people who help the ICC investigate US citizens and US allies.
Background
The International Criminal Court (ICC) can prosecute people worldwide for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. 125 nations are members of the Court,[3] but neither the US nor Israel have chosen to become members.[4] During Trump's first presidency, he imposed sanctions against the ICC's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and one of her associates, as punishment for investigating possible US war crimes in Afghanistan.[3]
In November 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yoav Gallant, who at the time was the Israeli defense minister. Israel and the United States opposed the decision. In the week prior to this executive order, the Republican majority in the US Senate tried to pass sanctions against the ICC, but was blocked by Democratic senators.[3]
A month prior to the order, the ICC anticipated that the incoming Trump administration would issue financial sanctions, and paid its staff three months' salary in advance.[3]
Order
Overview
The order imposes sanctions against the International Criminal Court based in The Hague, Netherlands. The order includes visa restrictions and financial penalties for people who help the ICC investigate US citizens and US allies.[5] The order was widely perceived as intended as punishment for the arrest warrants issued by the ICC against Netanyahu and Gallant. They are suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed by the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war.[5]
It also imposed sanctions against ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.[6]
Actions taken under the order
On 5 June 2025, Marco Rubio, the United States Secretary of State, announced that he would be placing four ICC judges on the sanctions list under the order: Slovenian Beti Hohler, Beninese Reine Alapini-Gansou, Peruvian Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, and Ugandan Solome Bossa. In his announcement, Rubio claimed that the four "have actively engaged in the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel. The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies. This dangerous assertion and abuse of power infringes upon the sovereignty and national security of the United States and our allies, including Israel."[7]
On July 9, 2025, Rubio announced that he was drawing on the order to impose sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories. Rubio claimed Albanese was antisemitic, supported terrorism, and expressed "open contempt" for the US, Israel, and western countries, and said the sanctions were prompted by her "illegitimate and shameful" attempts to get the ICC to act against "officials, companies, and executives" in Israel and the US.[8]
On 20 August 2025, Rubio announced that four more ICC judges would be placed on the sanctions list under the act: Senegalese Mame Mandiaye Niang, French Nicolas Guillou, Canadian Kimberly Prost, and Fijian Nazhat Shameem. In the announcement, Rubio described the ICC as a "bankrupt institution" and "a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel."[9]
In September 2025, the administration announced it was designating Al Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights under the order.[10][11][12]
On 18 December 2025, Rubio announced that the government was adding Georgian ICC judge Gocha Lordkipanidze and Mongolian ICC judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin to the sanctions list under the order, saying that two "have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent."[13]
Reactions
- Caspar Veldkamp, Dutch minister of foreign affairs, stated via X that he regretted Trump's decree and wrote "The work of the court is essential in the fight against impunity. Our country has a strong reputation and responsibility as a host country of important international legal institutions. The Netherlands actively contributes to strengthening the international legal order and multilateral cooperation and will fulfill binding international legal and treaty obligations in good faith."[14]
- In a post on X, Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, called the executive order a "threat" to the independence of the international judicial institution, and said that sanctioning the ICC "undermines the entire international legal system".[14]
Effects
Effects on the ICC
Judges sanctioned by the American government have stated that the sanctions have directly affected their personal lives. In a December 2025 interview with The Irish Times, Prost described effects such as how banks had immediately cut off her credit cards, how online shopping had become effectively impossible for her, how she had lost access to her Amazon accounts, how the daughter of one of her colleagues who had been sanctioned who had been living in the US had had her visa revoked, and how it became extremely difficult for her and her colleagues to exchange money between different currencies and send cash transfers to family members. Prost stated that although those effects were "small annoyances, but when they all come together at once in your life, it’s paralysing."[15]
References
- ^ Office of the Press Secretary (February 6, 2025). "Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved February 6, 2025 – via National Archives and Records Administration.
- ^ "Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court". Office of the Federal Register. National Archives and Records Administration. February 12, 2025. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
- ^ a b c d "Trump stelt per decreet sancties in tegen Internationaal Strafhof". NOS (in Dutch). 6 February 2025.
- ^ Sampson, Eve (2024-11-21). "Why Some Countries Won't Join the I.C.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
- ^ a b "Trump tekent decreet voor sancties tegen Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag: Nederland betreurt besluit" (in Dutch). de Telegraaf. 7 February 2025.
- ^ Quell, Molly (2025-05-15). "Trump's sanctions on ICC prosecutor have halted tribunal's work". AP News. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
- ^ Rubio, Marco (5 June 2025). "Imposing Sanctions in Response to the ICC's Illegitimate Actions Targeting the United States and Israel". United States Department of State. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
- ^ Hansler, Jennifer (2025-07-09). "US imposing sanctions on senior UN official focused on Palestinian human rights". CNN. Retrieved 2025-07-09.
- ^ Rubio, Marco (20 August 2025). "Imposing Further Sanctions in Response to the ICC's Ongoing Threat to Americans and Israelis". United States Department of State. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
- ^ "Sanctioning Foreign NGOs Directly Engaged in ICC's Illegitimate Targeting of Israel". state.gov (Press release). September 4, 2025. Archived from the original on September 5, 2025.
- ^ Wendler, Jacob (4 September 2025). "State Department sanctions NGOs tied to International Criminal Court's Israel probe". POLITICO.
- ^ "US Uses ICC Sanctions Against Three Leading Palestinian Rights Groups | Human Rights Watch". Human Rights Watch. 4 September 2025.
- ^ Rubio, Marco (18 December 2025). "Sanctioning ICC Judges Directly Engaged in the Illegitimate Targeting of Israel". United States Department of State. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
- ^ a b "Trump zet Internationaal Strafhof in Den Haag onder druk vanwege arrestatiebevel Netanyahu". Algemeen Dagblad. 7 February 2025.
- ^ O’Leary, Naomi (15 December 2025). "'It's surreal': US sanctions lock International Criminal Court judge out of daily life". The Irish Times. Retrieved 1 January 2026.
