What happens when the ICC becomes too politicized?

Justice Info is taking a summer break. New articles from 24 August.

  • Colombia
The radical shift in Colombia’s new president’s stance on transitional justice
By Andrés Bermúdez Liévano
In 2015, Abelardo de la Espriella had a strong vision about peace and justice in Colombia. He wrote a self-published book about it. We found a copy. And what the new president said then is sharply different than what he says now. For instance, he wants prison for FARC members, but ten years ago defended liberty for them.
Front and back cover of Abelardo de la Espriella's 2015 book
Dead Men Walking - Episode 4: Comprehensive Peace Agreements
By Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT)
In this fourth episode of "Dead Men Walking", we turn our gaze to the topic of peacemaking, and in particular the ideal of comprehensive peace agreements. In today’s world, can we hope for more than “negative peace”?
FRIVAO: Is collective compensation being used for embezzlement?
By Claude Sengenya
The FRIVAO fund for victims is also meant to provide collective reparations. But in Kisangani, there are questions about the use of these funds, which are sometimes misappropriated or have no real impact on the ground.
Jean Kalegamire Bienda, wearing a beige jacket and pink shirt, sitting at his desk and going through a stack of victims' case files; behind him, piles of documents and a calendar open to June 2026. Chaos and corruption: investigating the FRIVAO fund in Kisangani
By Claude Sengenya
In Kisangani, witnesses describe the chaos and controversy surrounding FRIVAO, with disputed numbers of victims and amounts of compensation amid political interference. Millions of dollars are alleged to have been embezzled from this victims’ fund.
Special session of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC, 24 July 2026, at UN Headquarters in New York. ICC: Karim Khan removed – what next? 
By Janet H. Anderson
The removal of Karim Khan as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was both the end of a long saga that played out against intense US pressure, and the beginning of a new and tricky stage in the court’s life.
War in Ukraine
War in Ukraine
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Ten heads of state wanted for international crimes
Ten heads of state wanted for international crimes
Putin, Netanyahu and the others
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Transitional Justice
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20 years of the African Court: “States’ support is slow in coming”
What’s wrong with ICC prosecutors?
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Inside Chernobyl after a drone attack: what can international law do?
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Life under sanctions Special focus 6 publications
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“Living with US sanctions means living in constant uncertainty” A total of 11 judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have been sanctioned by the US government. Some have come public about how it's deeply affected their daily life. And it’s unclear what protection they may enjoy.
“We are like outcasts”
How sanctions can weaponize US tech against the ICC
All our special focus
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Illustration showing a concrete mixer truck (with the Lafarge logo printed on it) stopped at a checkpoint manned by several figures dressed in black, armed and wearing balaclavas. A long arm extends from the truck, holding a suitcase filled with banknotes bearing the image of Bashar al-Assad. On the side is an ISIS flag. War and business: Lafarge in the dock
16 publications
At the Lundin trial in Sweden, two former executives of the oil company are on trial for alleged complicity in war crimes committed in Sudan. Illustration: Ian Lundin and Alexandre Schneiter are drowned in a pool of oil. Conflict rages in the background. War and oil: Lundin in the dock
25 publications
Fighting gender-based crimes - Illustration: a crime scene (police banner and numbered exhibits) where the silhouette of a character marked on the ground is filled in with the colors of the LGBTQ+ community's rainbow flag. The Fight Against Gender Crimes
9 publications
What justice for enforced disappearances around the world? © Marina Margarina / Justice Info The disappeared who will never be forgotten
27 publications
Félicien Kabuga, in a wheelchair, seems to be running away from a huge blood-red Félicien Kabuga, the last judgment
16 publications
Illustration mettant en scène des hommes et femmes d'affaire flottant sur un océan déchaîné. Certains semblent confiants et d'autres paniquent. Au fond, un radeau flotte transportant un magistrat en robe (mat symolisant la balance de la justice). Corporations face the rising tide of justice
51 publications
Religious people (in small format) are lined up to confess in turn to the ear of a church member (in large format) who hides one eye while listening with one ear. The Church and its sexual crimes
18 publications
Colonial crimes: a chess game to negotiate reparations, restitution, truth and the duty to remember Hour of reckoning for colonial crimes
50 publications
Massaquoi trial in Liberia The Massaquoi Affair: the Finnish model put to the test
21 publications
ICC's Trust Fund for Victims (TFV): a failure The failure of the ICC Victims Fund
7 publications
ICC desperately seeking prosecutor
7 publications
Transitional Justice: The great Colombian challenge
84 publications
Time for the truth in Gambia
77 publications
Rwanda, 25 years after the genocide
8 publications
Portrait (drawing) of Frédéric Mégret (lawyer specialising in international law), who answers questions from Justice Info on Ukraine, the United States and international law more broadly.
“Ukraine has done itself and international law a service”
23 February 2026 by Franck Petit
After four years of war in Ukraine and a year since Donald Trump returned to power, international law seems more threatened than ever, and its role in peace negotiations is being challenged. But the example of Ukraine, which is establishing a “regional” tribunal for the crime of aggression created by the Council of Europe, shows us “a space for the extension and survival of international law even at the worst moment of its crisis,” according to Frédéric Mégret.
Justice for Syria: what are the various initiatives for justice for Syria around the world, at the national level (in Syria or elsewhere, under universal jurisdiction) or at the international level (via the ICJ and UN bodies)? Image: world map with a photo of Sednaya prison (Syria) seen from the air and a portrait of Bashar al-Assad superimposed on it.
Justice for Syria: who is doing what?
8 December 2025 by Hannah El-Hitami
One year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, on 7 December 2024, the landscape of justice for grave violations of international law in Syria has transformed. Some transitional justice institutions have been established in Syria. And there have never been so many active Syrian cases under universal jurisdiction. 
Justice for Gaza: what are the various initiatives for justice for Gaza around the world, at the national and international levels (via the ICC, the ICJ, and the UN)? Image: world map with a photo of a completely destroyed street in Gaza, seen from the sky, superimposed on it.
Justice for Gaza: who is doing what?
4 November 2025 by Golnouche K. Barzegar
It’s a battle outside the battlefield, and it is worrying the State of Israel: in January 2025, the Israeli army warned its soldiers about possible arrests when they travel abroad. Since the start of the offensive in Gaza launched after the attack on October 7, 2023, two international courts have been seized: the International Criminal Court, which has issued arrest warrants, and the International Court of Justice, whose decisions have been supported by resolutions of the UN General Assembly. At the same time, the Human Rights Council has set up a commission, which has concluded that a “genocide” is taking place. Finally, complaints have been filed in dozens of national courts, and universal jurisdiction proceedings have been opened around the world.
In the footsteps of Roger Lumbala, on trial in France for crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Photo: Path under the trees in the heart of the equatorial forest in Ituri. People walk or ride motorcycles in a mystical, luminous atmosphere.
“Wiping the slate meant erasing everything: our property, our people”
14 November 2025 by Claude Sengenya
In Mambasa, deep in Democratic Republic of Congo equatorial forest, we trace crimes that are being tried 6,000 kilometres away in Paris, in Roger Lumbala’s trial that opened on November 12.
Syria
6 July 2026
A former Syrian intelligence general convicted in Vienna
Palestine
7 July 2026
Facing the threat of annexation in Palestine
Philippines
18 May 2026
ICC exposes democratic wounds in Philippines
Dem. Rep. Of Congo
13 July 2026
ICJ: Can Kinshasa’s latest case against Kigali be successful?
Colombia
18 June 2026
Colombia’s transitional justice system awaits the presidential election
Central African Republic
17 April 2026
CPS, the other “headless” court

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All our original publications listed in chronological order+

International justice news, according to AFP

11 August 2026 US rights groups sue Trump over ICC sanctions 11 August 2026 Myanmar escalating aerial attacks on civilians: UN probe 11 August 2026 Syria sentences Bashar al-Assad to death in absentia over atrocities 11 August 2026 Five years after return, Afghan Taliban government builds diplomacy 8 August 2026 Lebanon detains Assad-era Syrian officer wanted by Damascus: judicial official 7 August 2026 ICC calls on Chad, Venezuela to reconsider withdrawals 7 August 2026 ICC concerned after Chad, Venezuela withdraw 7 August 2026 Press Release from Business Wire: AOP Health 7 August 2026 Bangladesh says star cricketer Shakib will not play again after Hasina event 7 August 2026 South Korea vows truth over forced overseas adoptions
+ All AFP dispatches