July 17, 2026
Today, on International Criminal Justice Day, The Reckoning Project (TRP) pays tribute to the Rome Statute and the institution it created, the International Criminal Court (ICC). More than a quarter-century ago, states came together to declare that the gravest crimes known to humanity--genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression, collectively called “atrocity crimes”--would no longer go unanswered, and that no perpetrator would stand beyond the reach of the law by virtue of power or position.
The ICC remains the only permanent institution built to make that promise real. Its work rests on a principle our own work at TRP affirms every day: that justice is not an obstacle to peace but its foundation. There is no durable peace without accountability, and no lasting reconciliation built on impunity.
It is against this backdrop that we view with deep concern the renewed campaign to weaken and ultimately “dismantle” the Court. Such efforts are as counterproductive as they are misguided. They run against the very history and values that gave rise to international criminal justice--a tradition the United States itself helped author at Nuremberg, when it insisted that even the most powerful must answer for their crimes.
The United States helped lay the foundations of the International Criminal Court, and its influence is woven throughout the Rome Statute. To attempt to dismantle the preeminent institution that carries that legacy forward is not only a betrayal of the best of the United States and its professed principles, but it emboldens those who commit atrocities and to abandon the survivors who look to the law for redress. Accountability is no threat to any nation acting in good faith; it is a shared commitment that protects us all. On this day, we reaffirm our support for the Court, for the survivors we serve, and for the principle that justice must apply equally--or it does not truly exist at all.