Why Them? On the U.S. Sanctions Against International Criminal Court Officials

Abstract:

Two officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have now been sanctioned by the United States. On Wednesday, September 2, the State and Treasury Departments took their first action on a sanctions program created in June by, first, restricting issuance of visas for unnamed ICC personnel and, second, adding two named individuals — Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko — to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. Bensouda, as the Prosecutor and the Court’s highest-profile official, has long been seen as a target of this program. But Mochochoko may come as more of a surprise.