Let’s talk about the International Criminal Court
and why the US is going after it.
The ICC is investigating whether war crimes
were committed in Afghanistan.
Not just by the Taliban and Afghan forces
but by the US military too.
US President Donald Trump responded by
imposing sanctions on ICC prosecutors.
So why is the US lashing out at the ICC?
What happened in Afghanistan?
And what, if anything, has Israel got to do
with any of this?
Let’s get our heads around
this business of international justice.
The ICC is there to hold the most powerful people
accountable for the most serious of crimes.
It’s about providing millions of victims with access to justice
if the country in question is unable
or unwilling to seek it for them.
That’s why it’s considered the court of last resort.
It’s people like the Rohingya Muslims.
They were forced to flee
a military crackdown in Myanmar.
There’s also the Yazidis in northern Iraq
brutalised and enslaved by Islamic State fighters.
And the people of Darfur in Sudan who say they were
subjected to a campaign of terror
by a government-backed militia.
The ICC was created in 1998 by a treaty called
the Rome Statute.
Most countries in the world have signed on to it.
And the court works like most courts.
The prosecutor builds a case and takes it to trial.
And the accused has the right to appeal.
Now, a person can be investigated if they’re accused
of committing crimes in any of the 123 member countries.
Afghanistan is one of them.
Prosecutors can also investigate people
from countries that aren’t signed up to the ICC.
Like the US.
That’s why Americans are being investigated
for what happened in Afghanistan.
The UN Security Council can also refer cases to the court
like they did with Darfur
even though Sudan isn’t a member.
Among other places the ICC is now looking into
atrocities in Afghanistan.
The case is focused on events after 2003
and alleged crimes by all sides.
Let’s start with the Taliban.
In 2001 the Taliban was in power.
They were seen as an oppressive regime
that refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
After the September 11 attacks the US
went into Afghanistan to push them out.
By 2003 a new Afghan government was in place
and the US and NATO had control of the military.
But Taliban fighters didn’t go away.
They and other militant groups went on
to wage a guerilla war.
Not only targeting Afghan forces and their NATO allies.
But civilians too.
And the violence hasn’t stopped.
There are attacks nearly every day
in many parts of Afghanistan.
The ICC is also looking at Afghan forces
and whether they commited war crimes.
On the list of accusations
torture and sexual abuse of detainees.
The court has its sights on people
like General Abdul Rashid Dostum
who until recently was Afghanistan’s vice president.
During the war he led a pro-government militia
whose fighters are accused of atrocities like killing
and burying thousands of Taliban prisoners
in mass graves.
At the time his militia was backed by US Special Forces.
That’s them riding with General Dostum’s men.
Which brings us to the United States
and what it stands accused of.
For nearly 13 years Americans were the major
foreign power in Afghanistan
leading an international coalition that at one point
in 2010 reached 150,000 foreign soldiers.
US Special Forces were mainly there
to support the Afghan government.
But they’re accused of crimes including the abuse of
prisoners and covering up killings.
The CIA is also being investigated
for its use of torture.
So the prosecutor’s office at the ICC
gathered all of this evidence on Afghanistan
and finally got the green light in March to go ahead.
And then President Donald Trump imposed sanctions.
Something the US usually reserves for rogue nations
and human rights abusers.
They include travel bans and asset freezes
against the office of the prosecutor.
But resisting the ICC’s jurisdiction
seems to have been US policy from the beginning.
The Clinton administration only reluctantly
signed the Rome Statute.
And two years later President George W Bush
withdrew from it.
The US then took more steps to protect itself.
In 2002 during the Bush era they passed a law
that allows the US to ignore the ICC.
it even authorises the use of military force
to free US nationals detained by or on behalf of the court.
And yet the US has been known to co-operate
with the ICC.
But there’s another factor at play here.
And that’s Israel.
It’s one of America’s closest allies.
And is also being investigated
for suspected crimes in Palestine.
Like the US, Israel isn’t an ICC member.
But Palestine is.
In fact earlier this year
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
called for sanctions against the court.
And he got what he wanted.
The only way that countries can avoid ICC prosecution
is if they’re investigating themselves.
That’s what the Afghan government says it’s doing.
But many in Afghanistan
don’t trust their own justice system.
The US says it’s already investigated its military.
That happened under President Barack Obama.
But the court says those investigations
haven’t gone far enough.
International justice is a tricky business.
The court’s been accused of targeting
mostly African suspects.
Countries are pulling out to avoid being investigated.
And the ICC has no way of enforcing its decisions.
It relies on countries to co-operate
and hand people over.
And then there’s its record.
In 18 years it’s convicted four people.
But these are powerful people.
Like the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga.
He was convicted of war crimes
for recruiting child soldiers.
And the Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic.
For the Srebrenica genocide and other crimes.
For all its successes and perceived failings
the ICC is still seen by many as important and necessary.
Just ask people in Afghanistan.
So are those US sanctions going to work?
Well the ICC says it will carry on doing what it’s doing.
Which is sort of its job
to act independently and resist the most powerful
no matter who they are.
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