US Federal Government Sued by Human Rights Watch Over ICC Sanctions

A legal complaint filed in New York says the Trump administration’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court are an ‘unlawful abuse of power.’

The International Criminal Court building in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 21, 2024. Laurens Van Putten/ANP/AFP via Getty Images

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and three other advocacy groups have filed a legal complaint against the Trump administration over its sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is based in the Netherlands.

The Aug. 11 complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, also seeks to challenge sanctions that were imposed on a United Nations human rights expert and three Palestinian groups.

HRW, along with the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Open Society Institute, argue that the sanctions undermine the court’s ability to prosecute people responsible for some of humanity’s worst crimes.

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Feb. 6, 2025, to allow for the imposition of sanctions on the ICC over its alleged bias against Israel and the United States.

That followed the ICC’s decision in November 2024 to issue international warrants seeking the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas terrorist group’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

During a press conference on Aug. 11, HRW’s international justice director, Liz Evenson, said the complaint was designed to push back against the Trump administration’s actions.

“The Trump administration seeks a get-out-of-jail-free card for whomever it chooses. And with this case, we say no,” Evenson said.

“This is an unlawful abuse of power constituting a frontal attack on the rule of law, the independence of judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, basic precepts undergirding the international legal order, and the principle of equal access to justice,” the complaint states.

Andrew Loewenstein of Boston-based international law firm Foley Hoag LLP is the lead counsel representing the plaintiffs.

“The plaintiffs are seeking an end to this sanctions regime, which transgresses the president’s authority and violates international and US law, including the rights to freedom of expression and religion,” Loewenstein said in a statement.

Among those sanctioned by the United States was ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who was fired from that position last month over sexual misconduct allegations, which he denies. A majority of the ICC’s 125 member states voted to remove Khan, a British lawyer, for “serious misconduct and serious breach of duty.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) visit the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem on Sept. 14, 2025. Ariel Schalit/AP Photo

The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC, and neither recognizes the authority of the court, which has in the past put on trial several African politicians and military leaders, including Thomas Lubanga Dyilo and Bosco Ntaganda, both from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

US Criticism of ICC

Last month U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said he was launching a campaign to “dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.”

“The ICC is backed and run by a powerful network of leftist nongovernment organizations, smug globalists, and hostile Third World governments united by their enmity toward the U.S.,” Rubio said.

The Trump administration said it was also considering revoking visas and imposing travel bans on ICC personnel, imposing increased sanctions on the ICC and its affiliates, and increasing pressure on nations that refuse to reject ICC rulings while still relying on assistance from the United States.

The ICC was set up in 2002 in the wake of the war in the former Yugoslavia, which saw two Bosnian Serb leaders, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, convicted and jailed by a separate international tribunal.

In his February 2025 executive order, Trump said the ICC’s recent actions against Israel and the United States set a “dangerous precedent” that directly endangered active service members of the U.S. armed forces.

“This malign conduct in turn threatens to infringe upon the sovereignty of the United States and undermines the critical national security and foreign policy work of the United States Government and our allies, including Israel,” he wrote.

The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. State Department for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.