International Criminal Court: US Sanctions

Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts

Tuesday 11th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

My Lords, I am going to repeat what I said. The ceasefire and the return of the hostages were negotiated with the United States with the support of the United Kingdom, and the Presidents of the United States were heavily involved in that ceasefire. Our focus is absolutely to ensure the return of all hostages, and that peace can continue in Gaza so that we can get the humanitarian aid in. That is what we are focused on. I am sorry that I do not agree with the noble Lord at all.

[Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, in welcoming what the Minister has just said, I ask: would he not agree that one of the outstanding legacies of the Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, who saw more than 40 members of his family murdered during the Holocaust, was the creation of the international architecture that led to the Rome statute and the creation of the International Criminal Court? Would it not be better for those countries that are not members of the ICC to join the United Kingdom in becoming members of the ICC and to uphold the principles that the noble Baroness outlined? Given what the Minister said about the conversations that he is having with colleagues in the United States, when a noble Baroness such as the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy—an outstanding human rights lawyer—is threatened herself with visa restrictions and even potential fines for dealing with clients who are part of the process of the International Criminal Court, must we not protest about that in the strongest possible terms?

[Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. The ICC is the primary international institution for investigating and prosecuting the most serious crimes of international concern. We urge all countries to support it and we urge them to sign the Rome treaty. We know that the US, whether it has a Democrat or Republican President, has refused to do so, but that does not stop us focusing on how we deal with these crimes and how we can build alliances to ensure that they do not happen again. The noble Lord is absolutely right about the rabbi. We do need international law, we need international law to be upheld and we urge all countries to do so.