No Peace Without Justice condemns in the strongest terms the sanctions imposed by the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tomoko Akane, President of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer at the Court and a judicial candidate at the Court’s upcoming elections, under Executive Order 14203. The formal designation freezes any US assets the two may hold, but its real effect reaches far beyond US jurisdiction: banks and service providers worldwide, facing correspondent-bank exposure and compliance risk rather than secondary sanctions in law, routinely over-comply by closing accounts and cutting off digital and financial services entirely, regardless of where a designated individual actually banks or lives — over-compliance the EU Blocking Statute exists specifically to prevent, and whose continued, unchecked spread is a direct consequence of the European Commission’s failure to activate it. As documented across the growing list of designated ICC officials, this can mean the loss of ordinary banking, of access to basic online services, and well-documented impact on family members unrelated to their Court work — consequences that fall unevenly depending on nationality and domicile, and that extend, through a chilling effect, to every judge, prosecutor and staff member watching how these two cases unfold, and to the human rights organisations — Al-Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights — already designated in September 2025 for their work in support of the Court’s mandate.
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US Sanctions Against ICC President Tomoko Akane and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye Constitute an Offence Against the Administration of Justice Under Article 70 of the Rome Statute
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Keila McFarland
Employee account created by MemberMouse
Article
August 18, 2026
Advocacy Resources
- A strong and independent International Criminal Court
- Civil society in the ICC system/civil society
- Sanctions - US Executive Order 14203
- State support
- The International Criminal Court