THE Government of the Gambia has called on the Government of the United States of America (USA) to reverse sanction imposed on Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor and other Officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Below is the full text of the press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Cooperation and Gambians Abroad.
“The Government of The Gambia expresses its dismay over the announcement made by the US Government imposing sanctions against Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor and other staff of the International Criminal Court. These acts constitute gross interference on the mandate, independence and impartiality of the Court in the fight against impunity for perpetrators of the most serious crimes of international concern.
"The Gambia stands in solidarity with the Court, its Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, an upstanding citizen of The Gambia, and all other officials of the Court targeted by these sanctions.
"The Gambia continues to value and support the important work of the Court in upholding world peace and security. It therefore urges the US Government to reverse the sanctions imposed on the Officials of the Court,”Wrote Gambia Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
What happend?
This reaction come few days after, the US has imposed sanctions on the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, Fatou Bensouda, in the latest of a series of unilateral and radical foreign policy moves.
Announcing the sanctions, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, did not give any specific reasons for the move other than to say the ICC “continues to target Americans” and that Bensouda was “materially assisting” that alleged effort.
He also announced sanctions against Phakiso Mochochoko, the ICC’s director of jurisdiction, complementary and cooperation division.
The US Treasury issued a statement saying Bensouda and Mochochoko had been deemed “specially designated nationals”, grouping them alongside terrorists and narcotics traffickers, blocking their assets and prohibited US citizens from having any dealings with them.
In June, Donald Trump issued an executive order imposing sanctions on ICC officials involved in investigating Americans, in response to the court’s decision to open an inquiry into war crimes committed by all sides in Afghanistan.
The US also opposes ICC scrutiny of potential Israeli crimes against Palestinians as part of an investigation that also looks at abuses carried out by Palestinian security forces.
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The US was roundly condemned for its anti-ICC campaign, which was not supported by any other western democracy or US ally apart from Israel.
In a statement in response to the sanctions on Wednesday, the ICC said: “These coercive acts, directed at an international judicial institution and its civil servants, are unprecedented and constitute serious attacks against the Court…and the rule of law more generally.”
Richard Dicker, the international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the announcement “marks a stunning perversion of US sanctions, devised to penalize rights abusers and kleptocrats, to persecute those tasked with prosecuting international crimes”.
“The Trump administration has twisted these sanctions to obstruct justice, not only for certain war crimes victims, but for atrocity victims anywhere looking to the international criminal court for justice,” Dicker said.
The decision to escalate its campaign against the ICC is one of a series of radical steps the Trump administration has taken on foreign policy that have left it isolated on the world stage.
On Monday, it was alone in voting against a counter-terrorism resolution in the UN security council. On other recent council votes involving US efforts to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran, Washington has only managed to secure the support of the Dominican Republic.
On Wednesday, Pompeo also confirmed that the US would not be taking part in an international effort to find a vaccine for Covid-19, because the World Health Organization was involved.