Santiago de Chile (EFE).- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile expressed this Sunday its support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) so that it can “carry out its work free of intimidation and threats” and “in an independent and impartial manner.”
After a journalistic investigation revealed Israel’s decades-long attempts to influence and intimidate the international court in its investigations, the Chilean Foreign Ministry rejected, through a statement, “any act of harassment or intimidation” against the ICC and reaffirmed its “firm commitment” to said court.
Chile rejects “any act of harassment or intimidation”
The text was jointly promoted by Chile, Belgium, Jordan, Slovenia and Senegal and supported by 88 other countries.
On May 20, Chile supported the announcement by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan to issue an arrest warrant against the leaders of Israel and Hamas for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Furthermore, last January, Chile, together with Mexico, referred the situation in Palestine to this court to investigate the crimes committed in both Palestine and Israel since the start of the war in Gaza.
37,300 dead in the Gaza Strip
Since last October 7, more than 37,300 people have been killed by Israeli fire in the Strip and nearly 85,300 have been injured, according to data from the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian enclave, governed by Hamas.
The ICC, based in The Hague (Netherlands), is a criminal court that prosecutes people (not States) considered most responsible for atrocities. It has 124 member states, among which there is no Israel, but Palestine, which gives it jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestinian territory or by Palestinian nationals in another state, even if it is not a member.
Israel – like the US and China – signed but did not ratify the Rome Statute, which constitutes the ICC, so the scope of Prosecutor Khan’s measure is still unclear.
