Sanctioned ICC President Warns of the Demise of International Rule of Law

Tomoko Akane, the Japanese jurist who presides over the International Criminal Court (ICC), spoke publicly for the first time since the United States imposed sanctions on her, saying she was "not surprised" by the move and warning against what she called the demise of the international rule of law.

Japan's response has drawn domestic criticism. The Japan Times reports that the government of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi neither criticized nor lodged a protest over the American sanctions against a Japanese national serving as president of a court Japan helped build and funds. The same report notes Tokyo also took no measures after the Russian leader visited an island Japan claims.

The two silences share a common cause. Japan depends on the American security guarantee and is negotiating trade and defence questions with Washington, and it depends on stable management of its dispute with Moscow. Each protest carries a cost the government has chosen not to pay.

The ICC is a treaty institution whose authority rests entirely on member states enforcing its decisions. When a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council sanctions its president and the court's own member states decline to object, the institution's practical reach narrows regardless of what its statute says.