Global Politics: ICC Toothless?

UNITED NATIONS- Member state representatives of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted on 24 Friday, July, 2026, to remove the global tribunal’s chief prosecutor. The removal happened two years after sexual misconduct allegations against Karim Khan, first mentioned before the public.

A British barrister Khan accused of alleged sexual misconduct with a female aide, as previously been reported in a series of stories, Mr Khan steadfastly denied the allegations.

By a large majority, the ICC’s 125-member states ousted Khan from his position, the second time a chief prosecutor removed from office.

This is not the first time, previously, the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte was fired because she pronounced that she intended to prosecute all sides responsible for the Rwandan tragedy.

According to Peter Erlinder: “Ever since former ICTR Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte and ICTR Chief Investigative Prosecutor Michael Hourigan went public in 2007-2008 exposing US-UK manipulations to grant de facto impunity to current Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his henchmen, between 1997 and the present, convictions of the vanquished in the Rwanda war are a given.”

Mr. Erlinder paid the price for taking on some of the most challenging legal cases involving President Kagame’s political adversaries. Outside of the ICTR and defending Mrs. Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, Mr. Erlinder was one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuit against President Paul Kagame filed in the Oklahoma on April 30, 2010. The plaintiffs includes; the wives of Presidents Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira who were in the plane that was shot down on April 6, 1994, the day the genocide started.

The 56-year-old, Khan was temporarily removed from his duties at the ICC in June, pending Friday's vote, after a report by the executive committee of the court’s oversight body found he had committed “serious misconduct.” According to documents seen by this reporter, Khan engaged in a sexual relationship with the woman and tried to prevent her from pursuing her allegations. Khan disputes those findings.

Early in the session, a motion brought by Sierra Leone that would have made it harder to oust Khan failed and diplomats quickly moved forward to vote on removal, several hours ahead of schedule, according to three diplomats familiar with the proceedings.

The lengthy and complicated process has pitted human rights advocates, staff and member states against one another at a time when the court is already facing daunting challenges, including a campaign by the United States to “ dismantle ” the ICC, which was established to prosecute people responsible for humanity’s worst crimes.

In a statement a week earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said; the U.S. was launching a “sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.”

Rubio further said; he will pressure member states to withdraw from the institution, sanction organizations that work with the court and ban staff from traveling to the United States. Countries that “enjoy the benefits of the U.S. security umbrella” will be called upon to reject the court’s jurisdiction over U.S. citizens.

Trump’s administration already brought sanctions against Khan and a dozen other ICC staff in retaliation for warrants the court issued for top Israeli officials over the war in Gaza and investigations into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.

“Karim Khan believed that by launching a political witch hunt against Israel and issuing a politically motivated arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu, the world would ignore the grave sexual misconduct allegations against him. He was wrong," Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said in a statement.

The allegations have become entwined with the court’s investigation into the war in Gaza, experts said.

“Political considerations have been folded into this, especially as it is the first time a prosecutor has pursued warrants against a western ally,” Iva Vukusic, a researcher at Utrecht University who has been following the process, told the this newspaper.

Khan's removal will have no immediate impact on the arrest warrants in 2024 for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity, which can only be withdrawn by ICC judges.

   Comments0