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	International courts must always remain independent and free from political influence and coercion by ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane The International Criminal Court   9 Oct. 2026   Safeguarding the rule of law. The International Criminal Court (ICC) strongly rejects US sanctions against the institution. (ICC)   Today, the United States has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court as an institution. This unprecedented step follows a series of designations against thirteen independent Judges and prosecutors who serve the cause of justice.   This measure targets an independent judicial institution, created by treaty and entrusted by 125 States Parties with investigating and prosecuting genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.   It is an attempt to obstruct the course of justice and to prevent the Court from doing what it was created to do. It is an assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order which strikes at the simple principle that no one stands above the law.   The designation is aimed at disrupting the Court’s operations and at intimidating those who work for or cooperate with the Court. The Court, for its part, will not be deterred.   “The Court will continue to fully discharge its mandate, with independence and impartiality, acting only on the basis of the law and the evidence, for the sake of the countless victims of grave crimes” said ICC President Tomoko Akane.   Yet the Court cannot stand alone. Its fate now rests also in the hands of the States that created it. The Rome Statute is a collective promise that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished. That promise is only as strong as the resolve of those who made it.   There may be challenges. But, together with its States Parties, the Court has made considerable efforts to ensure the continuity and resilience of its activities. The Court calls upon States to continue taking concrete actions, including to ensure that the Court continues to have the necessary means to continue its work.   This is not just about defending a single institution, but about safeguarding the international order grounded upon the rule of law.   No one should be punished for serving the cause of justice. History will judge this moment. Future generations, and above all the victims of mass atrocities, will ask how we responded when an institution created to protect them came under attack.   They will ask whether the Court held firm and whether the international community defended the principles it proclaimed or allowed them to be abandoned under pressure.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-strongly-rejects-us-sanctions-against-institution   9 Oct. 2026   The United Nations Secretary-General condemns the announcement of the imposition by the United States of sanctions against the International Criminal Court as an institution.   The Secretary-General is deeply alarmed by the expected impact of today’s sanctions on the International Criminal Court as a whole, and in particular, its continued ability to perform its important mandates, including in relation to the situations referred to it by the Security Council and States Parties to the Rome Statute.   Today’s decision marks a serious blow to our collective pursuit of international criminal justice, of which the ICC is a key pillar. Accountability for international crimes and delivery of justice to victims are central to our global commitment to peace, security, human rights and fundamental freedoms.   The Secretary-General reiterates his unwavering support for the independence of the Court and its officials.   The Secretary-General calls upon all States to uphold their commitments under international law and to support efforts aimed at ensuring accountability for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.   UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Friday described as “unacceptable” the imposition of institutional sanctions against the International Criminal Court by the Government of the United States of America. He called for immediate measures to protect the Court and groups and individuals cooperating with it.   “These sanctions – the latest in a series of retaliatory steps against the ICC and its personnel for the work they do every day to advance accountability for the very worst violations of human rights – are unacceptable,” Turk said.   “They must not be allowed to have a chilling effect on those working for or with the Court in pursuit of justice. I particularly urge the 125 States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court – a full two-thirds of the international community - to take urgent steps to defend its crucial work and assure its ability to function. They have a particular obligation to protect the institution they have created.”   He also called on States who have not yet joined the Court to respect its independence and work.   The latest announcement by the US comes after a series of sanctions imposed since February 2025 against a full half of the Court’s 18 judges, its former Prosecutor, both its Deputy Prosecutors, and a senior staff member of the ICC.   Turk had previously stressed that “sanctioning judges and prosecutors at national, regional or international levels, for fulfilling their mandate in accordance with international law standards, is an assault on the rule of law and corrodes justice”.   The High Commissioner also deplored the earlier convictions in absentia entered in the Russian Federation against the then ICC Prosecutor and eight judges, with sentences of imprisonment up to 15 years imposed against them.   Turk called for the withdrawal of all sanctions against the ICC and its personnel.   “It is abundantly clear in all the conflicts and crises that plague our world that impunity fuels violence and suffering. We need to be investing more in ensuring justice and accountability – rather than penalizing those who are documenting, investigating and prosecuting serious violations.”   An assault on the administration of justice warn UN experts   “Sanctioning the institution entrusted with delivering justice for the gravest international crimes is an assault on the foundations of international accountability and rule of law,” the experts said.   “No State should place itself beyond the reach of the law by intimidating the court established to enforce it and attempting to dismantle it.”   “This attack on the ICC directly injures the victims of atrocities and their advocates, who rely on the ICC for justice, accountability and reparation,” the experts said.   “If ever there was a moment for States committed to an international rules-based order, to accountability for atrocity crimes, to the defence of human rights, and to the principle that no one is above the law, to stand up and be counted, it is now,” they warned.   “As a global community, we cannot let one State launch unilateral attacks against the Court,” the experts said. “The ICC was built by humanity, created through the coordinated actions of states across the world, and its essential work for victims of the most serious crimes must continue.”   * The Governments of Germany, France, Italy, Japan, UK, Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands say they "regret and strongly disagree with" the U.S. sanctions.   http://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statements/2026-10-09/statement-attributable-the-spokesperson-for-the-secretary-general-the-international-criminal-court http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/10/new-us-sanctions-against-international-criminal-court-unacceptable-turk http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/10/assault-administration-justice-us-sanctions-against-icc-threaten-system   http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/10/09/us-sanctions-on-icc-put-global-justice-at-risk http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/09/25/array-of-experts-back-lawsuit-challenging-trumps-icc-sanctions-regime http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/international-justice/international-criminal-court-icc/us-sanctions-against-the-icc-the-ultimate-test-for-its-125-states/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/10/usa-trumps-attack-on-the-icc-demands-a-global-response-of-resistance-and-protection/ http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/news/US-institutional-sanctions-against-icc   19 Aug. 2026   The International Criminal Court deplores the announcement of new designations for sanctions by the US administration against Judge Tomoko Akane (Japan), the President of the Court, and Mr Abdoulaye Seye (Senegal), Senior Trial Lawyer at the Office of the Prosecutor.   These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates pursuant to the mandate conferred by its States Parties from across regions. As a result of these designations, at present, nine of the eighteen Judges, both of the two Deputy-Prosecutors, the former Prosecutor and one staff member have been sanctioned by the United States.   Such measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff who work towards the fulfilment of the mandate that was conferred to the ICC by States undermine the rule of law. When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk. Threats and coercive measures also impact the ability of victims to seek justice, as they turn to the Court when all other avenues have been exhausted.   As previously stated, the Court remains undeterred and stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities. The Court will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality, in full accordance with the Rome Statute and in the interest of victims of international crimes.   The ICC values the consistent demonstrations of solidarity of States Parties, civil society and all those who support the rule of law and justice for the victims of international crimes. The Court will continue its work, with all partners and with the unwavering support of its States Parties, to ensure the effective and independent implementation of its mandate.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-strongly-rejects-new-us-sanctions-designations   17 July 2026   Statement of ICC President Judge Tomoko Akane on the Day of International Criminal Justice:   "Twenty-eight years ago today, the Rome Statute was born from a shared conviction: that the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole must not go unpunished. Its adoption made possible the creation of the International Criminal Court, which is the only permanent international criminal court established to end impunity for the perpetrators of those crimes.   Since then, the International Criminal Court has been fulfilling its mandate and is now seized of situations from regions across the world. The Court has never been busier, reflecting the continued relevance of its mission.   On this International Criminal Justice Day, let us recall that the international rule of law cannot exist without independent judicial institutions that uphold the law through the decisions of impartial judges. The International Criminal Court is one such institution. By exercising its jurisdiction over individuals accused of committing the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, the Court provides a necessary mechanism for accountability and offers hope to victims of these grave crimes.   International courts must always remain independent and free from political influence and coercion. This guarantees their impartiality and ensures fair proceedings.   Yet in recent years, international law has come under increasing pressure, through both direct attacks and a weakening of the commitment to uphold it. It has never been more important than it is today to defend the international rule of law and to continue the pursuit of justice.   Even in the most challenging times, the International Criminal Court will remain steadfast in its mission: to bring justice to the victims of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community.   Thanks to the continued support of States Parties and civil society, and the commitment of its staff, the Court is able to continue delivering on its demanding but indispensable mandate.   On this International Criminal Justice Day, let us remember that the pursuit of justice is a shared responsibility. Above all, let us remember those who are still waiting for justice for the crimes committed against them".   17 July 2026   The President of the Assembly of States Parties underscores the importance of upholding the rule of law over impunity:   "17 July is the Day of International Criminal Justice. It marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Rome Statute on 17 July 1998, the founding treaty of the ICC, which seeks to protect people from genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.   17 July unites all those who wish to support justice, promote victims' rights, and help prevent crimes that threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world.   The President of the Assembly of States Parties, Ambassador Paivi Kaukoranta, states on the Day of International Criminal Justice:   "International Criminal Justice is about upholding the rule of law over impunity, accountability over indifference, and cooperation over division.   On this Day of International Criminal Justice, I pay tribute to all those who contribute to the Rome Statute system and reaffirm the unwavering commitment of the Assembly of States Parties to safeguard the independence, integrity and future of the International Criminal Court for the benefit of victims of mass atrocities of present and future generations.   It is imperative that we stand today together, address challenges and reinforce our support for the Court, its officials and on those who cooperate with it.”   * The Assembly of States Parties is the management oversight and legislative body of the ICC. It is comprised of representatives of States that have ratified and acceded to the Rome Statute.   http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-president-judge-tomoko-akane-day-international-criminal-justice http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/president-assembly-states-parties-underscores-importance-upholding-rule-law-over-impunity http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-deputy-prosecutor-nazhat-shameem-khan-united-nations-security-council-situation http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/iceland-renews-its-support-trust-fund-victims-voluntary-contribution-2025 http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/japan-continues-its-support-trust-fund-victims-icc-bolstering-efforts-assist-survivors-sexual http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/portugal-strengthens-its-voluntary-contribution-2026-and-upholds-its-long-standing-commitment http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/slovenia-reiterates-assistance-survivors-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-through-new http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/germany-bolsters-its-position-leading-donor-and-lends-support-implementation-court-ordered   July 2026   The United Nations upheld the critical role of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday in the global fight to end impunity for grave crimes, amid calls for it to be abolished by the U.S. Administration.   During his regular media briefing, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric was asked if the Secretary-General had anything to say regarding reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wants to “dismantle” the Court, which prosecutes individuals for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.   “While the ICC is an organisation that is separate from the Secretariat and the UN, it remains for us a critical cog in the international justice system,” said Mr. Dujarric.   “It is supported by a vast number of Member States, and it helps bring accountability for serious crimes,” he added.   The US is not a party to the Rome Statue, the 1998 treaty that established the ICC, which is located in The Hague in the Netherlands.   It comes in the wake of developments last year, when Washington imposed sanctions on nine ICC personnel – including judges, the prosecutor and deputy prosecutors – in connection with efforts to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan and Israel in Gaza..   EU rejects Trump administration claims that ICC threatens US sovereignty. (Guardian News)   A spokesperson for the EU has pushed back against the Trump administration’s assertion that the international criminal court poses a threat to US sovereignty, a day after the US government said it would work to “systematically disable” a global tribunal that seeks to prosecute the perpetrators of the world’s gravest crimes.   Anouar El Anouni, an EU spokesperson, said on Tuesday: “We stand firm in our support for the international criminal court (ICC). Attacks or threats against the court, elected officials, personnel or those cooperating with the court are simply not acceptable.”   El Anouni pointed to the court’s role in pursuing the perpetrators of some of the world’s gravest crimes, from genocide to war crimes. He said: “Let’s also recall that the ICC does not target sovereign states, nor does it constitute a threat to their sovereignty.”   Instead, he added, it “exercises jurisdiction over individuals, perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community”.   Japan, the court's largest financial contributor, "places great importance on the eradication and prevention of serious crimes, as well as the upholding of the rule of law," and "has consistently supported the ICC in its capacity as a permanent international criminal tribunal," Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Tuesday.   Since Donald Trump returned to power last year, his administration has steadily worked to hobble The Hague-based court. So far, 11 of the court’s officials – including the chief prosecutor and eight judges – have been placed under US sanctions, leaving them grappling with cancelled credit cards, Amazon and Google accounts, as well as US travel bans.   Monday’s announcement, however, marked a dramatic escalation. In a video published on Monday, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, claimed that the court “threatens every aspect of our political and legal system”. In an accompanying op-ed, he invoked images of US border patrol agents and elected leaders being “dragged before an international court” and tried by judges from around the world.   The US state department said in a statement that the campaign against the court would take a “wide range of actions”, including potentially pressuring other nations to withdraw from the ICC and “increased scrutiny” of the countries that refuse to do so while relying on US assistance.   Countries that could be affected by these measures include Ukraine, where the ICC launched an investigation in 2022 into possible war crimes following Russia’s invasion.   Legal experts described Rubio’s remarks as a mischaracterisation of the tribunal’s powers.   The court can investigate alleged crimes committed in countries that have signed up to it, or crimes committed by citizens of those countries. It can also investigate cases referred by the UN security council, or where a country not signed up agrees to let it act.   But the court is only supposed to step in when a country cannot or will not investigate the crimes itself. The US has not signed up to the court.   For US citizens abroad, chances are slim of being put on trial by the court, as about 100 countries have signed agreements with the US to refrain from surrendering Americans to the court.   Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, said: “The ICC is not claiming jurisdiction over conduct in the United States. Rubio is dressing up his quest for impunity for American war crimes under the label of national sovereignty, which ignores the sovereign right of other nations to invoke the ICC for crimes committed on their territory.”   A former senior US government sanctions official suggested that the Trump administration was looking to curtail the possibility of investigations into its actions. “It gives you the sense that this is a pre-emptive campaign against any action the ICC might be considering..” the official said.   What does the Trump Administration Statement on Dismantling the ICC Really Mean? (Just Security)   We asked leading experts to consider: What does this announcement mean in practice for U.S. interests, for the Court, and for the cases it is pursuing? Is it simply more of what has come before from past U.S. administrations or is this a fundamental shift, and if so, what might be driving it? And what does it mean for international criminal law and its enforcement more broadly?   Alex Whiting, Member of the Just Security Editorial Board and Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, and former Investigations and Prosecutions Coordinator at the ICC:   "We have seen this movie before. Since the ICC opened its doors in 2002, the United States has at various times moved aggressively against the court, only to realize later that this approach was self-defeating and contrary to U.S. interests. The George W. Bush administration started off in a hostile posture toward the court, but then in 2005 supported a U.N. Security Council referral of the situation in Darfur, recognizing that the ICC was one of the few institutions that might address the massive crimes being committed there.   The first Trump administration also went after the ICC in 2020, imposing sanctions on the Prosecutor at the time because of the court’s investigations into potential international crimes in Afghanistan. But then after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, there was bipartisan support in the United States for the ICC’s investigations into potential war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The late Senator Lindsay Graham sponsored a resolution in the Senate supporting the work of the ICC and said that “the ICC is a venue to bring bad actors to justice in those areas where the Rule of Law is absent …   In fact, despite these periods of hostility, and even though the United States has never signed up to the ICC, it has largely taken a position of constructive engagement with the Court, through both Democratic and Republican administrations. And this is not surprising. Although the ICC is an imperfect institution, and has struggled to succeed, it is today the international institution to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, following on the legacy of Nuremberg and the ad-hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Sierra Leone, and Kosovo.   From the beginning, the United States has been critical to the success of the project of accountability for international crimes, playing an essential role in the creation of these tribunals as well as in their accomplishments.   Accountability for international crimes, including by the ICC, serves U.S. interests in at least three ways. First, American service members and citizens can themselves be the victims of these horrific crimes. A commitment to accountability is an important step to deterring these crimes and ensuring that justice is done when they occur.   Second, international crimes cause further instability in the world, threatening to unleash cycles of violence and retaliation, which can threaten U.S. interests, including by fomenting terrorist reprisals.   Third, the commitment to accountability is an important part of the international fabric and a foundational principle for many of our allies. Currently there are 125 states in the world that are part of the ICC. With the exceptions of the United States and Turkey, all the other members of NATO are members of the Court, and other allies in North and South America, Africa, and Asia are as well.   Secretary of State Rubio’s newly announced policy to “dismantle the ICC – brick by brick if necessary” appears to be a dramatic escalation of hostility toward the court, with the apparent objective of destroying the institution. Putting aside that the Court is actually constructed of metal and glass, and not bricks, Rubio justifies his policy by pointing to various imagined threats against U.S. service members and citizens by the Court, even though there is no indication whatsoever that the Court is currently investigating any Americans or has any plans to do so.   The administration’s hostility to the Court is not new – it has imposed sanctions on the Prosecutor, Deputy Prosecutors, and numerous judges because of the Court’s arrest warrants in the Palestine situation – but now the administration appears poised to increase the pressure on the Court dramatically, announcing that future measures could include additional sanctions and pressure on member states to leave the Court.   Ultimately, these measures will undermine U.S. interests, emboldening the perpetrators of grave international crimes and further distancing the United States from its allies in the world"..   Beth Van Schaack, Distinguished Fellow with Stanford’s Center for Human Rights & International Justice, served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice:   "Secretary Rubio’s threat to launch an all-out assault on the International Criminal Court is as unnecessary as it is misguided. If you look at the Court’s docket, it is singularly focused on delivering justice for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity—including sexual violence and harm to children—in some of the worst atrocity situations around the world: Darfur, Sudan; Libya; the Philippines; Ukraine; and Venezuela. By way of example, arrest warrants have been issued for senior Russian figures for deliberately attacking civilians in Ukraine, former President Rodrigo Duterte for launching a campaign of murder in the Philippines, and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing for the enduring persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar/Burma.."   Rebecca Hamilton, Executive Editor of Just Security and Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law and and former prosecution lawyer at the ICC:   "We have seen similar efforts by various U.S. officials to “kill the court” for over 20 years now. Yet, over that same period we have also seen how the United States also finds it useful for there to be an institution that can pursue accountability for grave crimes in places like Ukraine and Sudan, where the United States cares about justice.   Rubio is trying to shield the Trump administration’s military campaigns from external scrutiny. He may be unhappy to learn that by pursuing a full court press on this, he is only attracting more attention to allegations of U.S. war crimes and crimes against humanity from Iran to the Caribbean."   Todd Buchwald, served as Special Coordinator for the State Department’s Office of Global Criminal Justice from 2015-2017, with the rank of Ambassador from 2016:   "All this attention to such a phantom problem. Tell the Ukrainians that there should be no ICC pursuing the war crimes committed against them, or tell the victims of genocide in Darfur, or the women who have been been methodically raped and people whose societies have been destroyed in any number of other places.   Meanwhile, no U.S. service members are subject to any actual risk of investigation by the ICC that wasn’t already a possibility in the courts of any of the world’s more than 190 states that already exist. On those rare occasions when something actually comes up, we deal with it, and have always been successful.   At the same time, the Justice Department of the United States has often prosecuted personnel from other countries – posing to them the same type of risk that this announcement says is impermissible under international law. So what is it that the administration is actually saying is illegal and sinister?"..   Tom Dannenbaum, Member of the Just Security Editorial Board and Professor of Law at Stanford Law School:   "In March of 2022, Marco Rubio co-sponsored S.Res.546, which: (i) described the ICC as “an international tribunal that seeks to uphold the rule of law, especially in areas where no rule of law exists, by investigating and trying individuals charged ‘with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression”..   http://www.justsecurity.org/147012/trump-administration-statement-dismantling-icc http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/08/11/rights-groups-sue-trump-administration-over-targeting-icc http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/news/defend-justice-reject-united-states-campaign-against-icc http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-strongly-rejects-new-us-sanctions-designations http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-presidency-assembly-states-parties-withdrawals-rome-statute-chad-and-venezuela http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-president-judge-tomoko-akane-day-international-criminal-justice http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/president-assembly-states-parties-underscores-importance-upholding-rule-law-over-impunity http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-deputy-prosecutor-nazhat-shameem-khan-united-nations-security-council-situation http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/08/un-experts-demand-bold-action-icc-member-states-denounce-new-sanctions http://news.un.org/en/story/2026/07/1167932 http://www.jurist.org/commentary/2026/07/only-authoritarians-fear-international-justice http://www.hrw.org/news/2026/07/17/support-the-icc-as-a-vital-court-of-last-resort-for-victims-of-grave-international http://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/14/eu-rejects-trump-administration-claims-icc-threatens-us-sovereignty http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/07/reprehensible-us-campaign-dismantle-icc/   26 Jan. 2026   The United States must immediately withdraw sanctions against judges and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and repeal Executive Order 14203 of February 2025, a UN expert said today, after a fresh round of sanctions designations targeting judges was issued last month.   The latest round of designations on 18 December 2025, brings the total number of sanctioned ICC prosecutors and judges to 10.   “Sanctions targeting ICC justice personnel strike at the very heart of the promise born of the Rome Statute and the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials: a foundational pledge that no atrocity would go unanswered by international justice,” warned Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on Independence of judges and lawyers.   Ahead of the opening of the ICC’s judicial year, Satterthwaite called for renewed support for the ICC, both political and financial.   “Sanctions send a chilling message to victims of atrocities and their advocates, who rely on judges and prosecutors for accountability, repair and reparation,” the expert said.   “It is alarming that NGOs have also been sanctioned, and that victims themselves may fear punishment under the US sanctions regime, as the legal system allows for civil and criminal penalties, including imprisonment, against those transacting with sanctioned individuals and entities in some circumstances,” Satterthwaite said.   The international community must act decisively to ensure that justice personnel are able to perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or interference, the expert said.   “Judges, prosecutors and all those engaged in the enforcement of the rule of law and accountability for international crimes must not be subjected to intimidation, reprisals or punishment for carrying out their professional duties,” Satterthwaite said.   “Threats of prosecution, or administrative, economic or other coercive measures targeting them for the legitimate exercise of their functions, are an unacceptable assault on judicial independence, a deliberate obstruction of justice, and a grave threat to the rule of law and international accountability.”   * 125 countries from all the regions of the world are States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/01/usa-un-expert-demands-withdrawal-sanctions-against-icc-judges-and http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-strongly-rejects-new-us-sanctions-designations-against-two-icc-judges http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/02/russia-must-end-reprisals-and-intimidation-icc-prosecutor-and-judges-un http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164136 http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-president-judge-tomoko-akane-17-july-day-international-criminal-justice http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/international-criminal-court-deplores-new-sanctions-us-administration-against-icc-officials http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/presidency-assembly-states-parties-expresses-deep-concern-and-rejects-us-measures-targeting http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2025/06/comment-un-human-rights-chief-volker-turk-us-imposition-sanctions   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/12/assembly-states-parties-must-oppose-us-sanctions-icc/ http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/international-justice/international-criminal-court-icc/will-states-parties-protect-the-international-criminal-court-or-let http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-president-judge-tomoko-akane-following-issuance-us-executive-order-seeking http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-bureau-assembly-states-parties-support-independence-and-impartiality-international http://www.icc-cpi.int/news/icc-statement-occasion-80th-anniversary-auschwitz-liberation http://buildingtrust.si/79-states-parties-in-support-of-the-icc/ http://www.washingtonicc.org/2025-open-letter-regarding-sanctions-on-icc http://coalitionfortheicc.org/oppose-sanctions-against-ICC-safeguard-victims-access-justice http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/cicc-urges-states-parties-defend-icc Visit the related web page
	Crises are intensifying in multiple countries, driving rising humanitarian needs by United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs   June 2026   In the first five months of 2026, crises grew and intensified in multiple countries, driving rising humanitarian needs. By the end of May 2026, over 252 million people were in urgent need of humanitarian assistance and protection.   Situations of violence, including conflict—which remains the main driver of humanitarian need globally—escalated, with civilians and civilian infrastructure under direct attack, international humanitarian law repeatedly defied and people forcibly displaced from their homes.   Despite humanitarians’ best efforts, underfunding in 2026 will leave millions of people without essential assistance, while attacks harming aid workers and assets prevent civilians from accessing the assistance and protection they need to survive. These cuts and attacks are not isolated disruptions; they represent the rupturing of a lifeline for people in crisis.   For women and girls, the cost of inaction is particularly acute. It means giving birth without skilled care, surviving violence without access to support services, withdrawing daughters from school, losing access to reproductive healthcare, and facing heightened risks of exploitation, abuse and child marriage.   It also means the erosion of community-based networks and women-led organizations that often provide the last remaining lifeline when formal systems falter.   Funding cuts have forced humanitarians to make excruciating decisions regarding prioritization, cutting a lifeline for tens of millions of people in need. Based on collective needs analysis and intense discussions by country teams, assistance in 2026 is focused on those facing the most severe needs.   However, while necessary, this leaves tens of millions of people without any hope of support.   In Somalia, for example, alarming food insecurity has been compounded by declining humanitarian assistance: only 17 percent of people in need received humanitarian food security support in January 2026 while 125 treatment sites for severe acute malnutrition and 360 sites offering treatment for moderate acute malnutrition have been closed due to under-funding.   The consequences are already visible across crises, in lives lost, services reduced, and protection weakened:   Resourcing constraints have weakened healthcare systems that detect dangerous pathogens, prepare countries for and prevent outbreaks, and guide vaccine decisions. In South Sudan, more than 1.35 million people in Jonglei State lost access to health services due to service disruptions.   Unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene services (WASH) are causing disease and despair in multiple countries. In Gaza, Occupied Palestinian Territory, collapsed sanitation systems, overflowing sewage, extreme overcrowding, and widespread rodent and insect infestations are exposing civilians to disease, suffering and untenable living conditions amid soaring temperatures.   Funding gaps are forcing millions of people to survive in unsafe, degrading, and increasingly dangerous living conditions. In the Horn of Africa the upcoming rainy season is increasing concerns about aging, temporary shelters located in areas exposed to strong winds, flooding, and poor site conditions. Chad, hosting over 927,000 Sudanese refugees, is struggling to relocate families into sites where services are already severely overstretched.   Protection and education systems are collapsing in multiple contexts due to lack of resources. In Somalia, 86 per cent of Gender-based violence support facilities have shut down. In Chad, severe funding shortfalls are forcing the closure of Women and Girls Safe Spaces, leaving survivors of gender-based violence without clinical care or safe entry points.   In Colombia, local organisations have been forced to scale back drastically. Between 30 per cent and 50 per cent of Education in Emergencies programmes have been reduced or completely suspended, directly impacting the provision of essential elements of education responses in crisis-hit regions.   At the same time, an erosion of protection, including flagrant violations of international humanitarian law, are exposing humanitarian and healthcare workers to greater danger and severely hampering efforts to provide assistance and care.   There has been a collapse of protection for aid workers. In 2025, at least 326 humanitarians were recorded as killed across 21 countries (an average of almost one each day), bringing the total number of humanitarians killed in three years to over 1,010.   Of those over 1,000 deaths, many were in Gaza and the West Bank, 130 in Sudan, 60 in South Sudan, 25 in Ukraine and 25 in the DRC. Member States’ efforts to investigate and bring perpetrators to justice when death and injury result from apparent violations remain grossly inadequate. This pervasive impunity undermines the protection of aid workers across crises.   Access constraints severely hampered humanitarian response in multiple countries. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, aid delivery remained limited by crossing restrictions, denied or delayed movement approvals, fuel shortages, and disruptions to supply chains.   In Somalia, fighting was the primary cause of access restrictions in the first quarter, including hostilities, inter-clan clashes, political and election-related tensions that hindered humanitarian delivery by restricting the movement of personnel and supplies amid prepositioning for the drought response.   Attacks harming healthcare personnel and facilities have become a defining feature of conflicts, despite clear obligations under international humanitarian law and the 10th anniversary of UN Security Council Resolution 2286, which was adopted in May 2016 to advance the protection of medical care in armed conflict.   From 28 February to 4 May, an average of 5 attacks per day on health care were reported in 2026. In Ukraine, more than 3,000 attacks were recorded on the health-care system in 1,534 days of war, from primary health care centres to maternity hospitals, and from ambulance teams to pharmaceutical warehouses.   In Sudan, attacks against hospitals, clinics, ambulances, patients and health workers since April 2023 have killed more than 2,000 civilians. In Lebanon, almost 190 attacks on healthcare were verified, killing 128 healthcare workers and injured 332 others, were recorded in just three months in 2026. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, attacks on healthcare facilities have deprived more than 55,000 people of medical care, displacing thousands and interrupting ongoing response efforts.   For millions of people, the consequences of global inaction are neither abstract nor in the future; they are already here, and they are immediate and they are life-threatening.   Conflict between States is at its highest level since World War II.   In the Middle East, over 7,000 people have been killed, including 3,637 in Lebanon, 3,375 in Iran and 29 in Israel, while civilian infrastructure has come under attack by all parties to armed conflict across the region. In Lebanon, an estimated 1.4 million people require urgent life‑saving assistance and protection, as displacement becomes increasingly prolonged and pressures on host communities and essential services intensify.   In Sudan, at least 160 children were killed and 85 maimed in the first three months of 2026, while people continued to flee the horrifying war internally, and across borders as refugees.   In Haiti, escalating violence has forced record levels of people from their homes, with 1.5 million people internally displaced by June, including over 300,000 in the capital, Port-au-Prince.   In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 70 children have been killed between January 2025 and mid-May 2026 in the West Bank, while in Gaza, more than 250 children were killed and 260 injured from the announcement of the ceasefire in October 2025 to May 2026.   In Ukraine, May 2026 marked the highest monthly civilian casualty toll - at least 274 civilians were killed and 1,763 injured - since July 2025, while attacks with long-range weapons struck cities and towns far from the frontline.   And when fighting re-erupted between Afghanistan and Pakistan in late-February 2026, it displaced over 100,000 people in Afghanistan, at a time when communities across the country were already struggling to cope with cross-border returns and rising hunger, which has hit women hardest and forced families to take desperate decisions, including selling their daughters into early marriage.   Across several crises, refugees and internally displaced people began to return home, including in Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan. However, they often arrived to lack of functioning basic services, damaged houses and many other challenges.   The human toll of drone warfare, which increased exponentially between 2020 and 2024, was one of the defining trends in armed conflict in early 2026. The expansion in drone use is fundamentally reshaping the way wars are waged, with catastrophic consequences for civilians.   In Sudan, armed drones caused 80 per cent of civilian deaths between January and April 2026, with at least 28 drone attacks harming markets and 12 drone attacks harming health facilities in that four-month period alone.   In Ukraine, short-range drones killed 80 civilians and injured 481 in April 2026, the highest monthly civilian toll from this type of weapon since the start of the invasion. In the Russian Federation, infrastructure and civilian objects have been hit and civilians have died including as a result of drone attacks.   In Colombia, there was a 445 per cent increase in attacks using weaponized drones between 2024 and 2025, with significant humanitarian consequences.   Humanitarians are increasingly in the line of drone fire. In a single week in May, four humanitarian convoys were hit while carrying life-saving assistance to civilians in need in Ukraine. In March, an aid worker was killed in a drone strike on a residential building in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.   Olena, surviving on the frontlines of war in Ukraine:   “This cannot be called life,” said 80-year-old Olena, as she reflected on the past four years of the ongoing war in Ukraine. “It is not life when every day, every moment, there is shooting and you are frightened. It feels like there is a ‘hunt for people’ with drones, a human safari,” - she said. “Is that life? No.”   And yet, Olena wakes up to meet every morning. She makes breakfast for herself and her daughter. She waits for news from her family. It is her daily ritual which she helps her hold on. For families in Kherson and other front-line communities, survival has become an act of quiet endurance.   Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Olena and her husband had built a quiet, steady life in a close-knit neighbourhood in Kherson. But all of that changed, when parts of Kherson were occupied, including their neighbourhood. Electricity, water, mobile communication — everything stopped.   Checkpoints appeared. Armed men patrolled the streets. People stayed indoors, speaking in whispers, measuring each movement against fear. Even after Russian forces left, Kherson never truly left the front line: artillery and drones can reach within minutes. And in early-2023, Olena’s home was damaged by shelling.   Today, Olena lives in a rented apartment in Kherson with her daughter. Their pension barely covers expenses. For families living within range of artillery and drones, war is measured in sleepless nights and shattered homes.   “I don’t mourn the loss of property,” Olena’s daughter said. “I mourn the people the war has taken. Everything else can be rebuilt. But lives cannot be returned.”   Conflict-related sexual violence, marked by extreme brutality, has continued to surge, overwhelmingly targeted against women and girls. In 2025 cases of conflict-related sexual violence were more than double the previous year’s figure.   In Haiti, armed groups use sexual violence to spread fear, subjugate, and punish the population. In Myanmar, rape, gang rape and other forms of sexual violence are used as a tactic of war, including during village raids, at check points, in fields, homes and detention settings and online.   In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), sexual violence against children has become entrenched, systemic and increasingly widespread. In Sudan, sexual violence continues to surge, with the number of women and girls requiring support after experiencing gender-based violence nearly doubling in two years and quadrupling since the start of the war three years ago.   Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan: Shadia, escaping the siege of El Fasher   Shadia, a displaced mother from El Fasher, relates surviving detention and assault before fleeing to Tawila. Her story reflects widespread abuses reported during the RSF takeover that forced mass displacement across North Darfur.   For many people, siege is an ancient word – something from history books. But for Shadia, it is painfully real. She lived through the 500-day siege of El Fasher, trapped with thousands of others in a city cut off by war, with dwindling food and medicines, with troops surrounding them.   The farms around the city were emptied through fear and violence. Those who tried to leave in search of food or to bring supplies back risked being killed, detained, or raped.   Shadia remained in El Fasher as the city starved and collapsed around her, until one desperate attempt to find vegetables outside the city ended in rape.   After her assault, she escaped to Tawila by foot, more than 50km away. Her husband did not escape. When El Fasher fell in October 2025, she was finally reunited with her children. Today, she lives with them in a small, crowded tent in a displacement camp.   Across Sudan, over 12 million people, mostly women and girls, are at risk of gender-based violence – an 80 per cent increase since 2024.   The escalation of conflict in Iran and across the Middle East has far-reaching effects, causing global supply disruptions and rising humanitarian costs. The war has severely restricted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint that carries about one fifth of global oil and gas and a significant share of fertilizer trade.   The disruption has sharply increased fuel, transport and insurance costs, raising humanitarian operating expenses and constraining fertilizer supplies and represents the beginning of a systemic agrifood shock that could trigger a severe global food price crisis within six to 12 months.   At the same time, the disruptions are significantly increasing the cost and complexity of humanitarian operations at a time when global humanitarian action is desperately under-funded, with longer shipping times, higher fuel and logistics costs, and growing constraints on supply chains reducing the efficiency and reach of response efforts.   Evidence from partners, including WFP, IRC, IFRC, CARE, and other organizations indicate that rising fuel, transport and logistics costs are already increasing the cost of delivering assistance, which may translate into fewer people reached, smaller rations and reduced service packages.   These new pressures come when acute food insecurity and malnutrition are already alarmingly high. Hunger has doubled over the past decade, with 266 million people across 47 countries facing crisis-level conditions in 2025, while an estimated 35.5 million children and about 9.2 million pregnant and breastfeeding women were acutely malnourished across 23 countries/territories, including 10 million children facing life-threatening severe acute malnutrition.   Hunger is also highly concentrated: ten countries—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen—accounting for some two thirds of the global total.   Across crises, women and girls are often the last to eat and the least likely to access scarce resources.   Following the unprecedented declaration of two simultaneous famines in 2024—in parts of Sudan and in Gaza in the Occupied Palestinian Territory—people are projected to face Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) levels of food insecurity in 2026 in Sudan, Yemen, South Sudan, Nigeria and the Gaza Strip, while the Burhakaba district of Somalia was declared to be at risk of famine in May 2026.   If hostilities in the Middle East persist, around 45 million more people may fall into acute hunger, with the largest projected increases in Africa and Asia.   Meanwhile, climate shocks continued to wreak havoc on people’s lives in the first half of 2026. In December 2025, severe and prolonged flooding affected large parts of southern and central Mozambique, affecting around 724,000 people and driving humanitarian needs requiring a response in 2026. Rivers burst their banks, displacing communities and damaging or destroying homes, health facilities, water systems and other critical infrastructure.   Then, in early 2026, Madagascar was hit in rapid succession by Cyclone Fytia on 31 January and Intense Tropical Cyclone Gezani on 10 February, causing widespread devastation across the northern, western, and eastern regions of the country. The disaster significantly worsened an already fragile humanitarian situation, with more than 681,000 people affected and 632,000 now requiring urgent assistance.   In Cuba, severe fuel shortages due to external measures compounded the needs triggered by Hurricane Melissa (October 2025), affecting access to water, health care, sanitation, education and food, while also limiting partners’ ability to distribute assistance already in‑country.   In Somalia, a severe and prolonged drought—combined with insecurity, cuts to humanitarian assistance and the ripple effects of war in the Middle East—has caused a rapidly intensifying emergency.   Against a backdrop of sustained warming and increasing climate extremes, El Nino conditions, predicted to start in June 2026, are set to increase the risk of extreme weather over the coming months. Although no two events are the same, the 2026 El Nino could well increase the risk of heat waves, severe droughts and torrential rains in multiple parts of the world.   On top of conflict and climate crises, a new Ebola outbreak was declared in May 2026 in both the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. The resurgence of the virus in DRC is unfolding amid overlapping crises that heighten transmission risks, including conflict, mass displacement, and limited access to healthcare.   Women are disproportionately exposed to infection through their caregiving and frontline health roles. Clashes are driving mass displacement, pushing exposed contacts into overcrowded camps, and cutting off critical epidemiological corridors. Attacks on health facilities and threats to frontline workers are making case detection, contact tracing and safe burials highly complex.   This is the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC, emerging only a few months after the end of the last epidemic in December 2025. The epidemic was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 17 May 2026, underscoring the urgency of the situation. There is currently no vaccine and no approved treatment for this strain of the Ebola virus, the Bundibugyo virus.   Humanitarians are asking the global community, including Member States, individuals, organizations, companies and parties to conflict:   * Protect civilians in armed conflict, including the aid workers striving to assist them and the medical mission. Uphold international humanitarian law consistently, not only with words, but with concrete actions.   * Fully fund the hyper-prioritized Global Humanitarian Overview immediately, while striving to fund the entire GHO by the end of 2026.   http://humanitarianaction.info/document/mid-year-review-global-humanitarian-overview-delivering-people-crisis-against-odds http://humanitarianaction.info/document/global-humanitarian-overview-2026 http://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-humanitarian-assistance-report-2026-enar
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