Navi Pillay Calls Trump’s ICC Sanctions ‘Illegal’, Says He Needs Law Lesson
THE HAGUE: Nobel Peace Prize winner Navi Pillay has hit out at Donald Trump’s sanctions against the International Criminal Court, calling them “illegal” and saying the United States president needs a lesson in international law.
The 85-year-old South African jurist told AFP on Wednesday it was no coincidence the US sanctions came just hours after her Nobel Peace Prize win last week, calling it a “reaction to the fact that the award was not given to President Trump”.
“Call in your legal advisors”
Asked what her message was for Trump, Pillay did not hold back. “Call in your legal advisors to explain to you what international law is,” she said.
The Trump administration announced sweeping sanctions against the ICC on Friday, aimed at crippling the day-to-day operations of the court, which tries individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has vowed to dismantle the court “brick by brick”, and the administration is furious that ICC judges issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes in Gaza.
Pillay pointed to what she called American double standards. She noted that previous US administrations had welcomed the ICC’s arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. “That’s selective, that’s double standards, and that’s wrong,” she said.
Sanctions timeline: prize on Friday, punishment hours later
The sequence of events is striking. The Norwegian Nobel Committee named Pillay the 2026 Peace Prize winner on Friday, October 9, honouring her work for international law. It was a busy Nobel week overall: the 2026 economics prize went to Hall and Woodford. Within hours of Pillay’s win, Washington unveiled sanctions targeting the ICC as an institution, banning US entities from transactions with the court. The US Treasury has given companies a six-month window to wind down dealings with the tribunal.
The sanctions will hit the court’s technology and banking operations. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten has urged talks with Washington during the six-month grace period to discuss reforms to the Hague-based court. But Pillay dismissed the reform talk as “euphemistic”, arguing that what Trump really wants is “an undertaking that they won’t pursue investigations of US citizens”.
“You can’t selectively pursue one lot of people and not the other,” she said. “It will be such a bad, dangerous precedent.”
Who is Navi Pillay
The South African lawyer served as an ICC judge and then as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She also headed the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry whose report found that genocide was occurring in Gaza, a finding that drew outrage from Israeli officials after her Nobel win. Pillay hit back at that criticism in the same interview.
Trump has dismissed the choice, describing Pillay as an unknown “liberal person” and repeating his claim that he deserved the prize for ending “eight wars”. It is not his first clash with international norms; earlier analysis argued he had gone too far in targeting Iran’s leaders.
The court’s response has been defiant. The ICC condemned the sanctions as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order”. In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom reaffirmed their “continued and unwavering support” for the court.
The US had already sanctioned 17 individual ICC judges and officials; sanctioning the court itself as an institution is unprecedented. Its earlier warrant against Russia’s leadership drew global attention, while the Houthi-Saudi confrontation shows international law being tested on several fronts at once.
Frequently asked questions
Why did the US sanction the ICC?
The Trump administration says it wants to “dismantle” the court, which it calls a “rogue court”, and is angry over the ICC’s arrest warrant for Israel’s prime minister. The sanctions ban US transactions with the tribunal.
What did Navi Pillay say about the sanctions?
She called them “illegal” and said Trump needs a lesson in international law. She also said the timing, hours after her Nobel win, was a reaction to Trump not receiving the prize.
When do the sanctions take effect?
The measures include a six-month grace period for companies to wind down operations with the court, during which the Netherlands has urged negotiations with Washington.
Who supports the ICC against the sanctions?
The court itself, plus the foreign ministers of eight countries: Canada, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
