Brazil and 34 other countries support International Criminal Court

Last week in New York, Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, along with chancellors from 34 other countries, signed a statement in favor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The text reiterates the nations’ commitment with the ICC, in defense of an international order based on law and multilateralism, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry reported.

“The ICC represents an instrumental achievement in multilateral diplomacy and a true milestone in the development of international law. As a result of its mandate to evoke law in power relations, its has for some years been targeted by political attacks. In times of assaults on law-based order, it comes as no surprise that the ICC has faced even stronger attacks. We will always respect the ICC’s independence, something crucial in any court,” the document reads.

The signatory chancellors released a statement amid an international landscape marked by unrest. “We’re watching the generalized erosion of international law-based order, for whose establishment we have fought so diligently over the last decades—in the fields of commerce, disarmament, climate change, and also the rule of law and human rights,” the ministers said.

For the 35 countries that came out in support of the ICC, the court represents the joint commitment to fight against impunity for the most serious crimes known to humankind. “From Syria to Myanmar, where even the most basic rules of international humanitarian law have been disregarded, the governments and the victims hope that the ICC does justice when mass violations of human rights take place and more serious international crimes are perpetrated,” the statement reads.