Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act

Floor Speech

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Ms. SIMON. Mr. Speaker, Congress should support an impartial international criminal justice system to promote accountability and justice around the world. Imposing mandatory sanctions and visa restrictions on foreign individuals interacting with International Criminal Court prosecutors is a broad, dangerous approach, which is why I oppose this bill.

International law is effective only when it applies to actors and states regardless of who they are. Weakening and discrediting investigations into allegations of war crimes and human rights violations undermines peaceful tools of resolving and preventing conflicts.

Taking a blanket approach as proposed in this bill could implicate any foreign individual who interacts with the ICC and may even punish people like cafeteria workers and janitors for simply doing their jobs. Undermining the rule of law and freedom of speech as this bill proposes will threaten international justice and accountability. For those reasons, I oppose the bill.

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