38 Rights Groups Challenge Trump’s ICC Sanctions in US Court

Washington: Amnesty International, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and 36 other civil society organizations filed a joint amicus curiae brief on September 22 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, challenging the Trump administration’s sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The brief supports a lawsuit filed by the American Friends Service Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch, and Open Society Institute, contesting sanctions imposed under Executive Order 14203. The order targets ICC prosecutors and judges, a UN human rights expert, and three Palestinian human rights groups.
FIDH President Alexis Deswaef said the networks supporting victims are being destroyed, spreading fear far beyond those directly targeted. Amnesty Secretary General Agnès Callamard said it is critical for the US federal court to understand how the sanctions harm global civil society, victims, and international justice itself.
The brief states that designated organizations have already lost funding, staff, banking access, and partnerships — damage the groups call measurable and irreversible. The court has not yet ruled on the challenge.