Nobel Peace Prize winner Pillai condemns US sanctions against ICC

The BBC reported on the 10th (local time) that former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nabi Pillai, winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, condemned the United States for imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Pillai said in a video speech at an event at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo that day, "There has been tremendous tension and anxiety over the survival of international courts, especially the ICC," and "one country (the United States) has announced sanctions based on a judicial order issued by a judge, which is unprecedented and unacceptable."

Since its inauguration in January last year, the U.S. Donald Trump administration has called for the disbandment of the ICC on the grounds that it threatens U.S. sovereignty, and has so far sanctioned 17 ICC judges and officials. Coincidentally, immediately after Pillai, a former ICC judge, was announced as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on the 9th, additional sanctions were imposed on the entire ICC.

When U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on the 9th, he said it was to defend U.S. sovereignty and claimed that the ICC was trying to prosecute Americans. The U.S. government strongly opposed the ICC's investigation into the actions of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

These sanctions have a grace period of six months, but member states may be restricted from paying operating expenses in the future.

Pillai, a South African lawyer who served as a human rights lawyer, judge, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was selected as this year's Nobel Peace Prize winner in recognition of his efforts to promote peace and international law. President Trump called his award "disgraceful and embarrassing."