KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, has criticized US sanctions on ICC officials, including those who have worked on Afghanistan, warning they undermine the country’s investigation and weaken victims’ rights.
In a post on X on Saturday, Bennett called for the sanctions to be reversed, stressing that the ICC’s Afghanistan investigation is “crucial for justice.”
“Extremely disappointing new US sanctions against ICC officials – including some who have worked on Afghanistan – assault the independence of the Court and are a devastating blow to victims worldwide,” Bennett said.
“Imperative they be reversed. The Afghanistan investigation is crucial for justice,” he added.
The US State Department announced the sanctions on Wednesday, targeting two judges and two deputy prosecutors, including Judge Kimberly Prost, for authorizing probes into alleged crimes committed by American forces in Afghanistan.
The department justified the move as a response to what it described as “malign efforts by the ICC” to investigate possible crimes by Israel and the United States.
On Friday, a group of UN experts, including Bennett, said in a joint statement that sanctioning ICC judges and prosecutors undermines the fight against impunity and signals to the world that power, not justice, rules in the face of atrocity.
“The ICC’s legal professionals play a crucial role in holding perpetrators of humanity’s worst crimes to account. They must be protected from reprisals and allowed to act independently and without fear,” the expert said.
The ICC launched its Afghanistan investigation after the country joined the Rome Statute in 2003. It is the first major international effort to probe decades of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Taliban, US forces, and Afghan security forces.
Rights groups say the investigation is a key step towards justice for survivors. Progress, however, has been slowed by political resistance, jurisdictional limits, and the Taliban’s refusal to cooperate with the court.
In its latest move, the ICC earlier in June issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders, including the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, over crimes against humanity, including the systematic persecution of women and girls.
