Hungary’s withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban when he hosted Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, affirmed the growing sentiment about the irrelevance of the corrupt tribunal.
The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over war crimes in Gaza.
Hungary will start the year-long withdrawal process as Orban welcomed Netanyahu to Budapest on the Israeli leader’s first European trip since 2023.
The international tribunal is struggling to shake off its image of being intrusive and hypocritical, which views have pushed it to the edge of irrelevance. The Budapest exit could herald a wave of defections as the court grapples with US sanctions under President Donald Trump and a corrosive sexual misconduct scandal involving its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan.
An international law expert said the ICC is collapsing under its contradictions, a status Hungary and the Philippines, both signatories to the Rome Statute that created the ICC, had seized to underline its irrelevance in the current world order.
Orbán had argued that the court, established to prosecute the world’s gravest crimes, has devolved into a selective tool, pouncing on small nations while disregarding atrocities by non-members like the United States, Russia, and China.
The ICC’s issuance of warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024 over alleged war crimes in Gaza only sharpened Budapest’s resolve.
The risk of further defections looms large. Hungary’s decision to walk away may convince others to follow suit. Big African nations like Kenya and South Africa have long grumbled about ICC’s focus on their continent while ignoring Western impunity. The Philippines, which left the court in 2019, offers a precedent.
The scandal enveloping Khan has compounded ICC’s woes. Allegations of sexual misconduct, for allegedly groping a female aide and coercing her into a sexual relationship, became the content of European publications in May 2024, just as he sought Netanyahu’s arrest.
Khan has denied the accusations, calling them baseless and hinting at a smear campaign.
A United Nations-led probe, launched in December 2024, is looking into not just the misconduct but alleged retaliation against the whistleblowers.
Staff at The Hague whisper of distrust while member states question Khan’s moral authority.
Hungary’s exit, timed amid this chaos, paints the ICC as a sinking ship of hypocrisy tainted by internal rot.
Trump’s sanctions and Khan’s scandal could tip the scales for ICC’s 124 member states to realize the court’s loss of relevance.
Hungary, a staunch ally of Israel, sees the tribunal as more interested in political posturing than impartial justice. Why should sovereign states submit to a body that spares the powerful and punishes the weak?
The ICC faces more precarious days after Trump issued an executive order imposing sanctions on its officials, starting with Khan.
The US accused the ICC of “illegitimate and baseless actions” against its ally Israel. It froze Khan’s assets and barred him from American soil. In his first term, Trump also imposed sanctions on Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, over ICC’s Afghanistan probe.
The court knows its survival hinges on restoring its credibility, which explains its insistence on prosecuting Duterte.
Thus, the race is on for the ICC to make Duterte a showcase of its capability to uphold international justice amid the growing perception of its obsolescence.
The ICC has become a relic of the inquisition era, its hypocrisy exposed and its relevance fading fast.