FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 16, 2026

Media Contact

adam@thealliancefordiplomacyandjustice.org

Trump Administration's Plan to Dismantle the International Criminal Court Is Misguided, Unnecessary, and a Blow to Survivors of Atrocities

WASHINGTON (July 16, 2026) — The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice condemns the Trump administration's announcement that it will work to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC) “brick by brick, if necessary,” calling the campaign needless, harmful, and a devastating setback for survivors of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity around the world. The Alliance issued the following statements in response:

“Look at what the Court is actually doing,” said Dr. Beth Van Schaack, cofounder and principal of The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice and former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice. “Its docket is devoted almost entirely to prosecuting genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity — including sexual violence against children — in some of the world's most devastating conflicts: Darfur, Libya, the Philippines, Ukraine, and Venezuela.”

“The Court's current caseload lines up with American interests far more than it conflicts with them,” Van Schaack said. “What the State Department has described as a sweeping, whole-of-government campaign to disable the ICC's ability to operate represents a fundamental shift, with real consequences for U.S. interests, for the Court itself, and for the pursuit of international justice more broadly. There is deep and bipartisan support for the principle that those responsible for atrocities should be held accountable. The ICC is part of a larger ecosystem that the United States helped to establish and should continue to support.”

“We have been here before,” said Desirée Cormier Smith, co-president of The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice and former U.S. Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice. “The George W. Bush Administration launched a similar campaign against the ICC — and then backed off many of its most aggressive measures once it became clear the Court's work, prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide and mass atrocities, actually aligned with America's own foreign policy priorities. This administration is repeating a mistake history has already corrected. This campaign was never about protecting our troops — it's about shielding perpetrators of atrocities from accountability, at the direct expense of their victims.”

###

About The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice
The Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice is a coalition of former senior diplomats, elected officials and human rights experts working to ensure that human rights and global justice remain central to U.S. foreign policy. Founded by former U.S. envoys and ambassadors — Rina Amiri, Desirée Cormier Smith, Cindy Dyer, Kelly M. Fay Rodríguez, Abby Finkenauer, Dr. Geeta Rao Gupta, Dr. Beth Van Schaack and Jessica Stern — The Alliance advances principled, values-based diplomacy that strengthens democracy, equality and peace worldwide.

Prioritizing human rights in U.S. foreign policy is good for the world and good for Americans.