UN Balks at Trump Move To Deny an ‘Illegitimate’ ICC Prosecutor Entry to America

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In a battle over jurisdiction, or lack thereoff, the United Nations is contesting President Trump’s legal right to deny entry to America for the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan.

Following Mr. Trump’s February 6 executive order that imposed sanctions on the ICC, the Department of Treasury on Thursday added Mr. Khan, a British citizen, to its “Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.” The designation denies entry to listed persons.

Mr. Trump’s executive order followed a failed attempt to legislate sanctions against the ICC for issuing warrants for the arrests of Israeli officials and for investigating American military personnel. Senate Democrats blocked the legislation.

“We believe that as a party to the Host Country Agreement, the U.S. will abide by all of its obligations,” a spokesman for the United Nations, Farhan Haq, said Thursday. When “people need to enter the United Nations for different duties,” he told the Sun, “the Host Country Agreement is designed to make sure that will be allowed to proceed.”

The 1947 agreement that established the UN headquarters at New York’s Turtle Bay is based on a treaty known as the convention on the privileges and immunities of the United Nations. The Hague-based ICC, though, is not a UN organ.

Based on a 2002 treaty known as the Rome Statute, it puts its members under the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court, which is known as a venue of “last resort.” America and Israel have declined to ratify the Rome Treaty, and assert the court has no jurisdiction over their citizens.

Nor does the ICC fall under the immunities afforded to UN officials and diplomats. Mr. Haq nevertheless argues that Mr. Khan must be allowed to visit America, as at times he is invited to address UN organs at New York.

“The ICC is an independent organization,” Mr. Haq acknowledged. Yet, “there is business, including business at the Security Council, where the ICC has had to participate.” Mr. Haq added that while he is “aware” that America is not a party to the ICC, “there are obligations that involve all states, not just states parties, and the Host Country Agreement is specifically binding” for America.

Washington, in contrast, argues that the ICC’s “business” is not acceptable. By targeting American and Israeli officials for “illegitimate and baseless” prosecution, Mr. Khan wrongfully asserted the ICC’s jurisdiction, according to Mr. Trump’s executive order.

Following Mr. Khan’s prodding, the Hague court last year issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and a former Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant. The ICC, additionally, has opened an investigation into war crimes that Americans allegedly committed in Afghanistan. Washington claims that these are outside of the realm of the court’s mandate.

“The ICC has no jurisdiction over the United States or Israel, as neither country is party to the Rome Statute or a member of the ICC,” Mr. Trump wrote in the executive order.

“Karim Khan is just another puppet in the Palestinian-led diplomatic circus of terror at the UN,” Israel’s ambassador at Turtle Bay, Daniel Meron, said in thanking Washington for adding the prosecutor to the blocked list. “Those who long ago lost their moral compass have no right to lecture Israel, a nation fighting against the forces of evil.”

The UN, though, insists that Washington, by getting back at what it considers a rogue prosecutor, might itself go rogue.

Although the agreement obliges the host country to grant access to persons who participate in UN activities, America at times imposes strict limitations on entry visas. Officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, for one, get time-limited visas that confine their presence to the immediate environs of the UN headquarters. They are barred from going to such tourist traps as high-end Madison Avenue stores.

In 2018 the Trump administration revoked an entry visa to Mr. Khan’s predecessor as ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, citing her probe into American military personnel in Afghanistan. Washington carved out an exception, though, allowing Ms. Bensouda to visit the UN. She nevertheless did not appear at Turtle Bay following the sanction.

Shortly after President Biden assumed office, he revoked Mr. Trump’s 2018 executive order sanctioning the ICC. This year Senate Democrats blocked legislation to impose sanctions on the ICC. Mr. Trump then issued his executive order.

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