(Washington, D.C., July 13, 2026) — In response to a Wall Street Journal op-ed published today by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, "Why We're Dismantling the ICC," which references DAWN's work, DAWN issues the following statement:
"In March, DAWN wrote to all states impacted by the regional war–including Iran, Israel, Lebanon and states in the Gulf–calling on them to accept ICC jurisdiction, so that all its citizens and all victims have a pathway to justice with no exceptions," said Omar Shakir, DAWN's Executive Director. "Rubio's mischaracterization of our call to investigate all possible war crimes carried out in the war–focusing solely on the US' actions in Iran–begs the question: is the Secretary of State worried because he knows US personnel committed war crimes in Iran?"
"When the world's most powerful country aims to dismantle the world's only permanent international court, it sends the message that the powerful are above the law. It is not the ICC that Rubio is dismantling brick by brick–but the rules-based international order that grew out of the ashes of World War II," said Raed Jarrar, DAWN's Advocacy Director. "Rubio's attack doesn't just underscore US hypocrisy, but undermines access to justice across the globe, from Ukraine to Sudan and could amount to obstruction of justice, a crime under the Rome Statute in and of itself."
"For the US Secretary of State to call out Americans advocating for justice underscores the high stakes in the Trump administration's war on the International Criminal Court," said Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, DAWN's Israel-Palestine Director. "We will be taking the Trump administration to court this week. Stay tuned."
Background
DAWN's March 5, 2026, letter asked the governments of Iran, Israel, Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to file declarations accepting ICC jurisdiction over war crimes committed on their own territory since the war began on February 28. The letter stated that the laws of war apply equally to all parties, "whether they are the aggressor or the victim," and cited evidence of likely war crimes by different actors.
In February 2025, the Trump administration issued Executive Order 14203, which grants administration officials the power to impose sanctions on any foreigner who supports the ICC's investigations targeting U.S. and Israeli nationals. Under Executive order 14203, the administration has sanctioned the ICC's chief prosecutor, ten of its judges, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and three Palestinian human rights organizations.
Article 70 of the Rome Statute criminalizes impeding, intimidating, or corruptly influencing an ICC official to stop them from performing their duties, or retaliating against an official for having done so. Unlike the Statute's core crimes, which generally require a State Party nexus, the Court's own Rules of Procedure and Evidence extend Article 70 jurisdiction regardless of the accused's nationality, on the theory that the offense is against the Court's own integrity. As Rubio himself notes in his op-ed, the former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth has called for Trump administration officials to be prosecuted on this basis.
