Signal 38 Global Civil Society Organizations file joint brief in US lawsuit challenging legality of Trump's ICC sanctions

Summary

Thirty-eight civil society organizations led by Amnesty International and FIDH filed a joint brief on September 22 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The case, Civil Action No. 26-CV-06830 JMF, is brought by the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute. It challenges Executive Order 14203, issued in February 2025, whose targets include ICC prosecutors and judges, a UN human rights expert and three Palestinian human rights groups. The brief argues the sanctions fracture the civil society networks essential to the ICC's functioning and violate freedom of expression and association. It says designated entities lost funding, staff, banking access and partnerships. Amnesty's Agnès Callamard said, "We will not sit back and let President Trump destroy the Rome Statute."