On April 2, 2021, President Joseph Biden issued an Executive Order terminating a previously declared national emergency and related sanctions against certain persons involved with the International Criminal Court (ICC). In June 2020, President Trump issued Executive Order 13928 declaring a national emergency due to the ICC’s “illegitimate assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of the United States and certain of its allies, including the ICC Prosecutor’s investigation into actions allegedly committed by United States military, intelligence, and other personnel in or relating to Afghanistan.” The ICC operates under the auspices of the Rome Statute, prosecuting cases of international concern, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute. OFAC issued sanctions against certain ICC personnel in October. See Update of October 5, 2020.
President Biden terminated the Executive Order and stated that he has determined that, “although the United States continues to object to the ICC’s assertions of jurisdiction over personnel of such non-States Parties as the United States and its allies absent their consent or referral by the United Nations Security Council and will vigorously protect current and former United States personnel from any attempts to exercise such jurisdiction, the threat and imposition of financial sanctions against the Court, its personnel, and those who assist it are not an effective or appropriate strategy for addressing the United States’ concerns with the ICC.”