Current, former heads of ICC's governing body say isolation efforts aim to erode global legal order

WASHINGTON, Sept 3 - The current and former presidents of the International Criminal Court's governing body said efforts to isolate the institution diplomatically are aimed at eroding confidence in the international legal order as President Donald Trump's administration has pressured countries to isolate the ICC."Efforts to isolate the Court diplomatically — whether by encouraging States Parties to withdraw from the Rome Statute or urging non-States Parties to join measures intended to weaken it — are aimed at eroding not only one institution, but confidence in the international legal order itself," they said in a joint op-ed published on Thursday.The op-ed appeared on the Just Security law and policy journal's website. Authors included Paivi Kaukoranta, who is the president of the ICC's governing body, the Assembly of States Parties, and seven of its former presidents.Defending the ICC "is about preserving the international legal order as we have built it, as humanity's strongest safeguard against a descent into lawlessness and impunity," the op-ed said, adding the choice was "between a world based on the rule of law and one where might decides what is right."The op-ed comes as the Trump administration has sanctioned ICC judges and officials, including the court's president, and is pressing member countries to quit, a campaign that has prompted lawsuits and raised concerns among some U.S. allies.TRUMP SANCTIONS ICC OFFICIALSThe Trump administration ratcheted up its campaign against the Hague-based court last month by sanctioning its president, Tomoko Akane, and a senior trial lawyer.Washington says it will also step up efforts to get other countries to quit the institution.The ICC was established in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. It asserts jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.The U.S. is not a member. But the court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a U.S. ally, over assertions of war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel's assault on Gaza, as well as a past probe into U.S. troops in Afghanistan, has drawn Washington's ire."The Trump Administration's campaign to disable the ICC's ability to operate, target American servicemen or officials, or otherwise threaten American sovereignty will continue," State Department spokeswoman Paloma Chacon said in response to the op-ed.The administration says it will use travel bans and sanctions against the ICC and affiliated organizations, which are being opposed in the courts by ICC judges and U.S. advocacy groups who say the administration is violating free speech. REUTERS