ICC President Presents Annual Report to UN Assembly: 34 Arrest Warrants Outstanding as Assembly Condemns Threats Against the Court
New York — The UN General Assembly on November 2 took up the International Criminal Court's annual report, covering August 1, 2025 to July 31, 2026. Court President Tomoko Akane addressed the Assembly by pre-recorded video, the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the court's president had not appeared in person; Akane herself is under United States sanctions and could not travel to the United States. Washington sanctioned the court itself on October 9, after earlier sanctioning individual judges and prosecutors.
Akane said the court faces an unprecedented challenge to its independence: when judges are punished for their decisions, through sanctions or criminal convictions, it is not only those judges who are targeted, but judicial independence itself. She said the United States had sanctioned nine of the court's 18 judges, both deputy prosecutors, the former prosecutor and a staff member, and that a Moscow court in December 2025 had sentenced nine elected court officials in absentia to prison terms ranging from three and a half to 15 years, six of them sitting judges, herself among them.
She said more than 23,500 victims had participated in proceedings during the reporting period, including more than 7,000 at the reparations stage, and that the court's work was advancing at every stage, from investigations and arrest warrants to trials, appeals and reparations. She also noted that 34 publicly known arrest warrants remain outstanding, and urged states to meet their Rome Statute obligation to cooperate with the court, above all by arresting and surrendering suspects.
The Assembly then adopted a resolution (A/81/L.11) by a recorded vote of 93 in favour to 13 against, with 36 abstentions, welcoming the court's report and condemning threats, attacks and interference against the court and its personnel. The text stressed that the court must be able to carry out its duties without intimidation, called on all states to cooperate with it, and encouraged states that have not joined the Rome Statute to do so without delay.
Source: United Nations
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于纽约的联合国总部秘书处大楼。照片：经 Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 2.0）。 / Photo: The United Nations Secretariat Building in New York. Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
