宣言・決議・意見書・声明等

President’s Statement Strongly Condemning the U.S. Government’s Sanctions against the International Criminal Court and Calling for Upholding the Rule of Law

　On August 18, 2026, the United States Government announced that it had added Tomoko Akane, President of the International Criminal Court (the “ICC”), and Abdoulaye Seye, a Senior Trial Lawyer from Senegal, to the list of persons sanctioned under the Executive Order of February 2025 (the “Sanctions”). The Sanctions are reportedly based on, among other things, the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and others for crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip of the Palestinian Territories. The U.S. Government has continued to impose sanctions on ICC officials, and has since gone so far as to declare that it will use every tool at their disposal to dismantle the ICC. With the Sanctions, it has now targeted even the President of the Court, Ms. Akane.

　The ICC was established in 2002, and its establishment was of groundbreaking significance for upholding the rule of law in the international community. The ICC is the first permanent international court to prosecute individual perpetrators of four core crimes—genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression—which constitute “the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole” (Article 5(1) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the “Rome Statute”)). Although ad hoc international criminal tribunals (established temporarily after specific events and dissolved once their cases were concluded) had existed before, traditional international law remained essentially law between states, and many individual perpetrators escaped prosecution. The ICC was created to overcome this: to deter these grave crimes, which threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world and infringe not only the legal interests of individuals but also the common interests of the international community as a whole—what may be called the “legal interests of all humankind” (Rome Statute, Preamble, third and fifth paragraphs); to hold individual perpetrators accountable; and to contribute to preventing the recurrence of such crimes.

　Japan has sought to uphold the rule of law in the international community and has strongly supported the ICC. Recognizing that concluding the Statute would be “meaningful from the standpoint of contributing to the eradication and prevention of serious crimes in the international community and to the thorough establishment of the rule of law,” Japan became a State Party to the Rome Statute in October 2007, and has since produced three ICC judges, including President Akane. Japan is also the largest financial contributor to the ICC.

　The rule of law is a principle that rejects the rule of arbitrary power (the rule of men) and seeks to protect the rights and freedoms of citizens by subjecting power to law. To uphold the rule of law, the independence of judges in the exercise of their functions must, first and foremost, be guaranteed. The Sanctions not only infringe upon the independence of individual judges but, in doing so, also undermine the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. Furthermore, they will seriously affect the very functioning of the ICC, whose work extends to the overall redress of the harm caused by war, including assistance to victims (e.g., Article 79 of the Rome Statute), and they threaten to deprive the victims of crimes within the Court’s jurisdiction of justice and hope.

　The Sanctions run counter to the trend toward expanding and strengthening the rule of law in the international community, and could even mark “the beginning of the end of the international rule of law.” The international community as a whole—and Japan in particular, as the home country of the ICC President—is strongly called upon to make every possible effort to prevent such an outcome. The Constitution of Japan embraces pacifism and international cooperation, declaring in its Preamble: “We desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time from the earth.” In keeping with these words, Japan must act in the international community in a manner befitting that aspiration.

　Accordingly, the Kanto Federation of Bar Associations calls upon the Government of Japan to:

1. Protest the Sanctions to the U.S. Government in the strongest possible terms and urge it to lift all sanctions imposed under the Executive Order, including the Sanctions; continue to firmly assert this position at the United Nations and in all other diplomatic fora; and stand in solidarity with like-minded states.
2. Provide the utmost support to those subject to the sanctions, including President Tomoko Akane.
3. Provide the utmost support to the ICC so that it does not become dysfunctional, and, should sanctions against the ICC itself be anticipated, make every effort to prevent them.
4. Disseminate appropriate information domestically to deepen public understanding of the role and authority of the ICC.

　The Federation strongly protests the Sanctions, expresses its solidarity with and support for the ICC and all those subject to the sanctions, including President Tomoko Akane, and will continue to call for upholding the rule of law in the international community.

October 2, 2026