Trump issues sanctions to court after former judge awarded Nobel Prize
The Trump administration has issued a series of severe sanctions against the International Criminal Court, just hours after a former judge was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Navi Pillay was awarded the prize “for her efforts to promote peace and international law”, the committee said.
Former UN human rights chief Navanethem “Navi” Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP
The South African judge served on her country's High Court before presiding over the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
She then served as a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) before becoming the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
"At a time when the number of wars and conflicts is rising, and when judges and institutions of international law are under political attack, the Nobel Committee wishes to issue a reminder that the ability to resolve conflicts without force or violence is dependent on the international rule of law," the committee said in its statement.
"An international legal system in which war criminals are held to account and the victims of abuse see justice served is a precondition for a peaceful world."
Pillay was told of the award while she was at a forum in Germany.
She made a joke as she received the crowd's enthusiastic applause.
"If you clap a little bit more I may share this prize with Trump," she said.
Donald Trump responded by reposting a Truth Social post from one of his lawyers.
"Today the Nobel Committee shamed itself beyond repair and demeaned the once great Nobel Peace Prize by giving it to the UN’s Navi Pillay," lawyer David Schoen said.
Donald Trump has long coveted the Nobel Peace Prize. AP Photo/Tom Brenner
"Pillay is an unabashed hater of America and Israel."
Schoen then argued that Trump should have received the award.
"President Trump gave us the Abraham Accords, which the world said would be impossible and is now expanding them!
"He brought home the hostages when all seemed hopeless!
"He is making best efforts to end the Russia/Ukraine war, to stop Iran, the number one sponsor of international terrorism, and he is trying to rebuild Gaza despite the terrorists’ best efforts to control it."
President Donald Trump salutes during the singing of the national anthem at a Columbus Day celebration. AP Photo/Tom Brenner
Soon after the award was announced, the US State Department announced heavy sanctions on the ICC.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio railed against the court seeking the power to prosecute American citizens.
"President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans.
"That is why, today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court.
"We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate."
In his statement, Rubio decried "globalist experts an ocean away".
"Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," he said.
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"We expect our allies, many of whom are part of the ICC and that rely on American servicemembers for their defence, to rein in the court.
"If they do not, the United States will continue its campaign to dismantle the ICC, brick by brick, until Americans are threatened no longer."
The sanctions were criticised by top Democrats, including Representative Lloyd Doggett.
"Instead of using the new sanctions Congress authorised against Putin, Trump is sanctioning the International Criminal Court, which seeks Putin’s arrest for abducting Ukrainian children," Doggett said.
"Trump’s effort 'to cripple' the Court is another major assault on the rule of law and protection of human rights."
The International Criminal Court was founded to prosecute crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.
The court, based in the Netherlands, counts Australia among its state parties.
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