Prime Minister Mark Carney has restated Canada’s support for the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying Ottawa would continue backing it despite the United States pressuring allies to withdraw their membership and funding.
The Canadian Prime Minister said the court played an increasingly important role as global instability rose.
“Canada is a proud member of the International Criminal Court. We support it with funding. We support it with personnel. We support it with our values. We support it with our actions, and we will continue to do so,” he said.
The U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. The Trump administration has repeatedly criticized the ICC, particularly after the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over allegations related to the genocidal war on Gaza. Last year, the U.S. sanctioned four ICC officials, including Canadian ICC judge Kimberly Prost over a case related to American troops in Afghanistan.
Canada’s public reaffirmation of support for the ICC underscores a widening transatlantic divide in the transatlantic bloc over the future of international justice institutions. As Washington intensifies pressure on allies to distance themselves from the court, Ottawa’s stance signals that key Western democracies are unwilling to abandon the rules-based legal order despite geopolitical costs.
The episode also highlights how the ICC is becoming an increasingly contested arena in great-power diplomacy, with support for or opposition to the court evolving into a broader indicator of states’ commitment to multilateral governance, accountability, and the enforcement of international humanitarian law. (EIR)
