Human Rights Watch and three other human rights organizations filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, August 11, against the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump over sanctions imposed on the International Criminal Court. Associated Press reports, as UNN writes.
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The lawsuit was filed in the federal court for the Southern District of New York. The human rights advocates argue that Trump's executive order and sanctions against ICC judges and prosecutors undermine the court's work and its ability to hold people accountable for the most serious international crimes.
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The statement also refers to U.S. sanctions against a UN human rights expert and three Palestinian human rights organizations. The plaintiffs called the measures "a blatantly unlawful attack on international justice" and urged the court to overturn them.
The fact that so many leading human rights and humanitarian organizations have joined together to challenge Trump's unlawful executive order demonstrates the sweeping harm it is inflicting on civil society groups seeking to hold perpetrators of serious crimes accountable
The human rights organizations say that the financial and legal restrictions against the ICC have forced them to curtail some of their human rights and legal activities. In their view, such measures violate rights guaranteed by the First and Fifth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.