ICC faces US sanctions and misconduct scandal

The International Criminal Court is receiving the Sakharov Prize while facing US sanctions, threatened member withdrawals and a misconduct scandal involving its former chief prosecutor.

The court, based in The Hague, was created in 2002 to try people accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide when national courts are unwilling or unable to act.

The ICC has convicted 15 people in nearly a quarter of a century, all of them African. Five were convicted of witness tampering rather than core crimes. It has also had high-profile failures, including the acquittal on appeal of former DR Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba and dropped charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The court has 125 member countries, but the United States, China, India, Israel and Russia have never signed its founding Rome Statute. President Donald Trump's administration has increased pressure on the court, sanctioning several top officials and, earlier this month, the court itself.

Washington has been angered by ICC arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including starvation as a method of warfare and murder. He denies the allegations.

US sanctions could create difficulties for the court in banking, paying its 900 staff, travel for investigations and technology. Nauru, Chad, Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have signalled they will leave the ICC after US diplomatic pressure.

The court has also faced a reputational blow from the dismissal earlier this year of chief prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations. Khan denies misconduct and has said he will fight his dismissal through available legal mechanisms.

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is set to stand trial before the ICC on charges of crimes against humanity. ICC prosecutors say he was responsible for tens of thousands of murders during his so-called war on drugs.