Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay on Wednesday hit out at Donald Trump’s “illegal” sanctions against the International Criminal Court, saying the US president needed a lesson in international law.
Navi Pillay also said it was no coincidence the US sanctions on the ICC were announced just hours after her Nobel, as a “reaction to the fact that the award was not given to President Trump.”
In an interview with AFP, Pillay also said it was no coincidence the US sanctions on the ICC were announced just hours after her Nobel, as a “reaction to the fact that the award was not given to President Trump. On Friday, the US announced sanctions against the ICC aimed at crippling the day-to-day operations of the court, which tries individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Pillay noted that previous US administrations had welcomed an ICC arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “that’s selective, that’s double standards, and that’s wrong. The sanctions, which will hit the court’s technology and banking operations, take effect in six months and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten has urged talks with Washington during that time to discuss reforms to the court, based in The Hague.
Trump’s administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick-by-brick”, furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu called her a “bigot” while Israel’s foreign ministry said Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels must be “applauding from hell” at her award.
