Congress Votes To Protect War Criminals

The International Criminal Court prosecutes people who commit violent atrocities in wartime.

Christian Nationalists in the US House of Representatives just voted for HR 23, legislation to protect war criminals by preventing the International Criminal Court from doing its job.

Christian Nationalism asserts that war crimes are only committed by other people, an archaic tenet of religious faith that goes back to the violent Book of Genesis and Book of Revelation. Christian Nationalists in the US House of Representatives expressed this violent aspect of their religious identity when they passed H.R. 23 yesterday. H.R. 23 is a bill that defunds the International Criminal Court and threatens to punish anyone who helps the Court to do its job.

The ICC is an organization dedicated to giving fair trials and legal punishment to individuals who commit violent atrocities during war. The court prosecutes human rights abuses without discrimination, and that infuriates Christian Nationalists.

Yesterday, Congress passed HR 23, legislation that withdraws US funding for the International Criminal Court, and requires sanctions against any individual or organization that helps the court to do its job of holding war criminals accountable.

Christian Nationalist support for HR 23, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act, puts to the lie the claim that Christianity is a religion of peace. Christian politicians flocked to protect war criminals yesterday, following the ancient religious standard from the Old Testament and New Testament that atrocities should only be punished when they are committed by other people.

Christian Nationalists shoved HR 23 through without opportunity for public hearings or legislative amendments to improve the bill. Only one hour of debate was allowed before a vote on passage of the legislation, allowing voters no time to communicate with their representatives on the issue. Democratic U.S. Representative Jim McGovern from Massachusetts stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and condemned the Trump Republican attack against the International Court. Congressman McGovern said,

I'm told that there were negotiations going on to try to actually improve this legislation and then the speaker made a unilateral decision to go with the most extreme version. This was not marked up in committee, and there were no amendments to this. Didn't come to the rules committee. Nobody can offer an amendment. Nobody can make a suggestion. Take it or leave it. That is the way, I guess, the way the Republicans are going to want to run the House.

I remember hearing widespread support for many of my republican colleagues when the ICC issued a warrant against Vladimir Putin for the kidnapping of Ukrainian children. As well as when they issued a warrant against Bashir for the genocide in Sudan. So, I guess what we're hearing here is that, you know, we want to pick and choose on their side how we're going to react to the ICC based on what they do.

The reason why my colleagues are not here is because the republicans scheduled this debate during President Carter's funeral, which I find to be incredibly disappointing, given President Carter's stature in this country and his commitment to human rights.

The International Criminal Court exists to hold the world accountable, to prevent atrocities and to serve as a reminder that no one is above the law. Abandoning the ICC, as HR 23 proposes, undermines our values, undermines our alliances and undermines our credibility on the world stage. This is a moment to reaffirm our commitment to human rights, to international law, and to the partnerships that have defined American leadership, and this bill fails that test. By sanctioning officials of the ICC and anyone who has done business with them, this bill would have a chilling effect on America's work to support human rights and rule of law around the world. It would hamper the ICC’s efforts to prosecute serious atrocities that have wrecked lives and destabilized countries around the world. From Ukraine to -- countries around the world. From Ukraine to Uganda to Darfur. NGOs would be chilled from sharing evidence of the great crimes committed this these places. Many of us celebrated in march of 2023 when the ICC 's judges issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and another senior Russian official for abducting thousands of Ukrainian children. Congress even passed legislation to enable the united states to provide financial support to and share information with the ICC to investigate and prosecute Putin and his regime for their heinous crimes in Ukraine. This bill we are considering today would undermine that work and rob it of its legitimacy. If passed, this misguided legislation would bluntly curtail our ability to engage the ICC to advance our interests in supporting justice and accountability and, crucially, to share relevant information with our partners and allies. Speaking of our al least. This bill is so absurdly broad it would sanction our own allies. This would sanction our own allies. Read the bill. Our allies would be sanctioned for supporting the ICC if this were to pass. The largest funders of the ICC are America's closest allies, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan. As drafted the leaders of these countries would be sanctioned for providing material assistance to the ICC that's truly nuts, truly nuts. Doesn't make any sense to me. The legislative bodies of these bodies could also be sanctioned for appropriating funds to the ICC and by some interpretations, interparliamentary travel to Europe could become a sanctionable activity. Did anybody think this through? Is sanctioning the leaders of our closest friends and allies really the best we can do here? This sanction over 900 members from approximately 100 countries at the court from judges, prosecutors, to administrative staff, including nationals of close US allies and partners, who collectively work to prosecute war criminals around the globe. The language in this bill is so broad even cafeteria workers and janitors, even their families could be construed as having, quote, supported or materially assisted in these prosecutions by providing services to the I.C.C. This is nuts. This is nuts. And what would happen next? I can tell you, mr. Speaker, American companies would be banned from doing business with the ICC if its top officials are sanctioned. Their Chinese competitors would rush in to fill the gap. Not only does this undermine America's interests, it bolsters Russia and it helps China. Mr. Speaker, this is a bad bill.

If the United States of America stands for anything, we need to stand out loud and foursquare for human rights. That means we have to hold ourselves accountable. We have to hold our allies accountable. And we have to hold our adversaries accountable where they don't live up to those standards, and the International Criminal Court is there to hold countries accountable and to hold entities accountable when they commit human rights crimes.

The Christian Nationalists who now control the federal government of the United States of America are demonstrating that they will protect war criminals from accountability, as they seek to dismantle the legal systems that prevent violent human rights abuses from taking place. The 119th Congress is becoming truly brutal, and Donald Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated as President yet.

Making matters worse, 45 right wing Democrats joined Christian Nationalist Republicans to vote for HR 23. Their names are:

Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), Wesley Bell (D-MO), Gil Cisneros (D-CA), Shomari Figures (D-AL), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Adam Gray (D-CA), George Latimer (D-NY), April McClain Delaney (D-MD), Josh Riley (D-NY), Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA), Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL), Haley Stevens (D-MI), Emilia Sykes (D-OH), Rob Menendez (D-NJ), Angie Craig (D-MN), Henry Cuellar (D-TX), Don Davis (D-NC), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Laura Gillen (D-NY), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Jared Golden (D-ME), Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Greg Landsman (D-OH), George Latimer (D-NY), Susie Lee (D-NV), Mike Levin (D-CA), Lucy McBath (D-GA), Grace Meng (D-NY), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Chris Pappas (D-NH), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Pat Ryan (D-NY), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Kim Schrier (D-WA), Darren Soto (D-FL), , Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Emilia Sykes (D-OH), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Marc Veasey (D-TX) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).