ICC weakened by member state impotence, says attorney Stanley L. Cohen

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is being weakened by the “impotence” of its member states and the UN, renowned American criminal-defense and human-rights attorney Stanley L. Cohen has told RT.

“Unless the international signatories to the Rome Statute and the UN begin to take action against those countries that are seeking to silence, if not end, the call to justice from the ICC, then its power is obviously going to be weakened,” Cohen said in an interview on Friday.

Cohen pointed to the freedom of movement Western nations have afforded Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite an outstanding ICC warrant for his arrest. In 2024, the Hague-based court issued warrants for Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Gaza war.

The fact that Netanyahu who’s a fugitive, who’s a wanted fugitive and war criminal, can fly to New York, could go in front of the UN, who’s wanted for genocide, and go on to speak in furtherance of genocide without any accountability from the UN, really sums up the problem, the impotence, and apparently the indifference of most of the UN.

Israel and the US are not parties to the ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute. However, even Western nations that do recognize the court’s authority have allowed Netanyahu to pass through their airspace despite the arrest warrant. Last February, Washington imposed sanctions on ICC officials for pursuing cases against American soldiers, Netanyahu, and other Israeli officials.

Cohen also argued that as global power shifts toward a new generation of leaders in the Global South and Western “violations of international law” are exposed, future leaders will be less willing to tolerate efforts to undermine or constrain the ICC.

Established in 2002 under the Rome Statute, the court is tasked with prosecuting genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression, and relies heavily on the cooperation of its 125 members. However, some of the world’s most powerful states, including the US, China, India or Russia, reject its authority.

The court has long faced accusations from some governments of selective justice and political bias. The tensions intensified in the past year, with Venezuela and Chad joining Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger in moving to withdraw.