5 days ago
Canada must come off the sidelines of international justice
Alex Neve is a professor of international human-rights law at the University of Ottawa. Amanda Ghahremani is an international human-rights lawyer and a research fellow at the Human Rights Center at the UC Berkeley School of Law.
Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected on a promise to stand up to Donald Trump's bullying, supposedly heralding a new era in U.S.-Canada relations.
Yet Mr. Carney's first months in office have revealed a sharp turn toward Mr. Trump and U.S. interests, including on border control and military spending. Now, it seems Canada has capitulated to yet another U.S. obsession: attacks on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Canada has remained silent in the face of a recent round of withering U.S. attacks on the ICC for charging two senior Israeli leaders with oversight of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Mr. Trump's vitriol against the ICC has led to sanctions against the court's chief prosecutor and four of its judges, as well as a UN independent expert who has supported the court's investigation of Israel. Other ICC personnel could be sanctioned at any time.
At a UN Human Rights Council session in June, 50 states released a joint statement in which they 'firmly reject[ed] these regrettable attempts to undermine the judicial independence of the court and the integrity of the Rome Statute system.' At another UN meeting in July, 48 states jointly reiterated that 'the court, its officials and staff must be able to carry out their mandate and professional duties without intimidation, coercion or duress.' Many of our closest allies endorsed these statements. Canada did not.
Is Canada's silence a sign that we are moving to the sidelines of international justice? Mr. Carney and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand have said nothing to explain this about-face in our foreign policy toward an institution that we helped to establish.
Opinion: Canada needs to follow through on its promise to help Palestinians
Indeed, one of Canada's proudest moments on the world stage was its leadership during the 1998 global conference to adopt the Rome Statute and establish the ICC. Canada was the 14th country to sign the treaty and one of the first countries to pass domestic legislation to implement it. Canadian Philippe Kirsch was the court's first president. Canadian Kimberly Prost is currently an ICC judge and could be at risk of being sanctioned for her work. How dismal, therefore, to see Canada's leadership squandered in recent weeks because of what appears to be a fixation on appeasing Mr. Trump.
While the Rome Statute was a historic breakthrough, delivering international justice was bound to be complicated. There are significant practical challenges in carrying out investigations amidst armed conflict and mass atrocities. There are daunting political challenges with many countries not only refusing to recognize the ICC's jurisdiction but aggressively objecting to cases the court has properly initiated.
The U.S. is no fan of the court and has relentlessly lashed out at any prospect of U.S. or Israeli officials being charged for their involvement in international crimes. Although the U.S. and Israel are not members of the ICC, the State of Palestine is a recognized member and crimes committed on its territory or by its nationals fall within the jurisdiction of the court. This means that the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel and the ongoing bombardment of Gaza – which legal and human-rights experts argue amounts to genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – can all be investigated.
And the ICC did investigate. In November, 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant. The prosecutor had also sought three warrants for Hamas leaders but abandoned them when they were killed by Israeli forces.
Prior to Mr. Carney's election, Canada publicly joined other states in June, 2024, and February, 2025, in expressing 'continued and unwavering support for the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the ICC.' What has changed since then is our country's leadership, and the fact that sanctions have now actually been imposed.
Whether Canada's silence is a roundabout way of showing displeasure with the arrest warrants lawfully issued against Israeli leaders, or a timid unwillingness to say anything indirectly critical of the Trump administration (or both), it represents an unprincipled and craven abandonment of the imperative to strengthen the rule of law in our turbulent, violent world.
At a time when civilian protection is desperately under threat, not only in Gaza, but in Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and many other corners of the world, Canada cannot afford to be equivocal and selective about something as essential as international accountability and justice.
What is most objectionable is that this shift in Canadian policy was carried out by stealth, with no public notification or explanation, at a time when Canadians crave principled and ethical leadership on the international stage. We need better. And the world certainly deserves better.
