By Hedelberto López Blanch *
The International Criminal Court (ICC) could be called the Criminal Court of the West, used to sanction or condemn presidents and representatives of the Global South and developing nations, but never the United States, Western Europe, or countries aligned with them, even when these entities commit the most egregious human rights violations. Since the ICC began operating in 2002, it has been structured as an organization serving the West, the hegemonic interests of the United States and Great Britain, and opposed to the formation of a multipolar world in accordance with the positions of the Global South.
Let us recall that at the beginning of the 21st century, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had dissolved into several countries, Russia was not yet a powerful nation, and China was not yet the superpower that both are today. Anglo-Saxon elites (primarily from the United States and Great Britain) formed the backbone of this institution, which follows the decisions and principles of American liberal ideologues and financiers to maintain an ultra-globalist system of international relations subordinated to a single decision-making center. It was built on the premise of suppressing the sovereignty of all countries except Washington and London, which would be legally independent and immune from prosecution. The agreement was approved by 120 states during a meeting in Rome in 1998 and implemented four years later, although more than 40 countries have not signed it, and a large majority have rejected it for various political reasons.
The objective is to prosecute anyone accused of committing war crimes, aggression, or crimes against humanity, including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of population, severe deprivation of liberty, or torture, committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, provided, of course, that the country is not Western. The twisted nature of the ICC’s decisions and its double standards become evident in its inaction regarding the numerous war crimes committed by the United States and NATO countries in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and other nations subjected to so-called “humanitarian interventions.”
In this regard, Professor D. Rothwell of the Australian National University criticized the ICC, expressing doubts about its ability to guarantee a transparent and impartial investigation into war crimes committed by Australian members of the NATO peacekeeping force in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021.
R. Thakur, a consultant to the Australian and New Zealand governments on international security and arms control, denounced the ICC, claiming that instead of fulfilling its mandate impartially, it acts as a “political tool of international liberal circles.” Thakur cited as an example a case brought before the ICC against the United States for crimes against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the court quickly dismissed. ” After more than a decade of atrocious and unpunished US crimes,” he said, “that decision by the ICC was a genuine shock to the victims and undermined confidence in the Court.” It has also refrained from investigating or accepting lawsuits against high-ranking Western officials such as former President George W. Bush, Spain’s José María Aznar, and Prime Minister Tony Blair for the manipulated information that led to the invasion of Iraq and the killing of a million people. Nor has it taken action against NATO generals for murders committed in Serbia, Libya, Western Sahara, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, nor has it brought to justice those responsible for the horrific torture committed by US forces at Abu Ghraib in Iraq or at the occupied naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Conversely, that organization has indeed issued arrest warrants and convictions against African and other leaders, including former President of the People’s Republic of Congo, Lubanga Dylio, Ugandan Joseph Kony, former President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, former President of Kenya, Uhuruo Kenyatta, Libyan Muammar Gaddafi, and former President of Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo. In September 2020, during Donald Trump’s first administration, the United States announced that it imposed sanctions against ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division of the Prosecutor’s Office, Phakiso Mochochoko, for conducting investigations into abuses committed by US forces in Afghanistan. In November 2024, Washington opposed the Court’s decision to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, despite their having committed the largest genocide of the 21st century against the populations of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. The ICC failed to investigate the murders of nearly 20,000 Russian-speaking inhabitants in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, perpetrated by the Ukrainian regime after the 2014 coup (sponsored and directed by Washington) against President Viktor Yanukovych. However, in March 2023, it readily accepted pressure from NATO countries to issue an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for “the deportation of Ukrainian children and their transfer to the Russian Federation.”
With this operation, Moscow managed to save the lives of these children and their families, victims of the indiscriminate attacks carried out by Ukraine against these Russian-speaking regions. In conclusion, the ICC is a mechanism created by the West to impose its political will on foreign leaders, promote decisions that are favorable to it, and attract as many states as possible into its sphere of influence.
(*) Hedelberto López Blanch is a Cuban journalist. He writes for the newspaper Juventud Rebelde and the weekly Opciones. He is the author of “Cuban Emigration to the United States,” “Secret Histories of Cuban Doctors in Africa,” and “Miami, Dirty Money,” among others.
Special thanks to the author, Hedelberto López Blanch
IMAGE CREDIT: Adan Iglesias Toledo
[ SOURCE: RESUMEN LATINOAMERICANO Y DEL TERCER MUNDO
CUBA EN RESUMEN ]
