The United States (US) State Department has called on all countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute and thus members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to withdraw from the institution.

This is just the latest escalation from Washington against the Hague-based war crimes court, calling on every country that belongs to the court to withdraw from the treaty that established the tribunal.

In a strongly worded post on X, the US State Department welcomed what it described as Venezuela’s decision to leave the ICC, calling it a partnership in American-led efforts to dismantle the court.

The US is on a mission to dismantle the court “brick by brick”.

The State Department argued the ICC had spent years investigating former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro without securing a prosecution, while accusing the court of overreaching by pursuing cases involving nationals of countries that had independent judicial systems and were not parties to the Rome Statute.

Supporters of the ICC say the court is an independent judicial body created by 125 member states to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity in territories where it has judged to have jurisdiction.

The ICC maintains it can investigate crimes committed on the territory of a member state, regardless of the nationality of the alleged perpetrator.

–SABC–