ICC backers defy Israeli call to cut funding to war crimes court
Many leading backers of the International Criminal Court will ignore Israel’s call for them to cut funding in response to an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, officials told Reuters.
The continued support from countries which provide more than a third of the court’s cash, including Germany, Britain and France, averts the risk of paralysis at the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.
The already financially-stretched court in The Hague – set up to hold to account leaders responsible for crimes that go unpunished at home – could have been unable to pay salaries.
It would have struggled to move ahead with cases such as those against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and Ugandan rebel commander Dominic Ongwen.