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Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, holds a press conference in her capacity as Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, at the UN European headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on June 18 of last year (local time). / EPA, Yonhap

Navi Pillay, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and this year's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, condemned U.S. sanctions imposed on the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling the move "unprecedented and unacceptable."

In a video address delivered on the 10th (local time) during an event at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway, Pillay said that "tensions and anxieties are growing tremendously over the survival of international courts, particularly the ICC in The Hague (Netherlands)," the BBC reported.

"What is of paramount importance is that one nation has announced sanctions against judges solely on the basis of their judicial rulings," she criticized. "This is unprecedented and unacceptable."

Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the sanctions—which include prohibitions barring U.S. entities and companies from conducting transactions with the ICC—as a measure to "defend American sovereignty," pointing out that the ICC seeks to prosecute Americans.

The United States had already imposed sanctions on 17 ICC officials and judges. The latest measure targets the court itself, aiming to undermine its operational capacity financially.

Washington is providing a six-month grace period before the sanctions formally take effect, allowing member states to continue paying their ICC operating contributions in the interim.

The Trump administration stated that this window is intended to provide time to negotiate solutions addressing the concerns raised by various countries.

On the 9th, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Pillay—a South African jurist and former ICC judge—as this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient, praising her for "paving the way for a more inclusive global legal order through her dedicated efforts to promote peace and international law."

President Trump expressed dissatisfaction with the announcement, and hours later, the United States rolled out sweeping sanctions that escalated attempts to dismantle the ICC, branding it a "rogue entity."

The Trump administration contends that the ICC is run by so-called "globalists" who threaten U.S. sovereignty, harboring long-standing grievances over the court's past investigations into actions by U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Washington has also strongly pushed back against the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

                                                                                                            Kim Hyun-min