The European Parliament handed the International Criminal Court its highest human rights honour on Thursday — a public show of support for the Hague tribunal less than two weeks after the Trump administration sanctioned the court itself.
The International Criminal Court and its officials won the EU's 2026 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola announced in Strasbourg on Thursday, October 22, Reuters reported. The decision was taken the same day by the Conference of Presidents, which brings together Metsola and the leaders of the Parliament's political groups. Announcing the award to a standing ovation in the chamber, Metsola said: "The EU is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions. And this prize recognises the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice."
ICC President Tomoko Akane said the "unprecedented challenges" the court faces made the prize all the more significant. The award, she said, "underscores the importance of continued international cooperation and support to enable the court to carry out its mandate independently and impartially, in the service of justice and the victims of the gravest crimes." Akane also pointed directly at the pressure from Washington, saying the court faces "sanctions aimed at disrupting the Court's judicial mandate," according to DW's account of her remarks.
"There is no peace without justice and no security without law." — Tomoko Akane, President of the International Criminal Court
The Sakharov Prize, named after the late Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, has been awarded annually since 1988 to individuals and organizations defending human rights and freedoms. The court and its officials are due to collect the €50,000 award in Strasbourg on December 16, at the last plenary session of the year, Brussels Signal reported. It is the second international recognition for the war crimes tribunal this month, coming less than two weeks after former ICC Judge Navi Pillay was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize — an award widely seen as a show of support for the embattled court.
Washington's position is the opposite. The Trump administration announced sanctions against the institution itself on October 9, going further than earlier sanctions on individual judges and prosecutors. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said transactions with the court would be banned after a grace period of six months, and France 24 reported the measures cut the court off from U.S.-based financial services, technology companies and the use of U.S. dollars. Washington cited what it called the court's political bias, according to DW. The Hague-based court has long been a target of the administration, whose campaign against it escalated after the court issued arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant — and over its investigations touching Israeli and American officials, Brussels Signal noted.
The nomination came from the Socialists and Democrats group and was supported by Renew Europe, the Greens and The Left, beating two other finalists: Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu and the Iranian twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, both imprisoned. EU institutions have condemned each round of U.S. measures, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas is expected in The Hague on October 23 to restate the bloc's backing for the tribunal. For now, the two sides of the Atlantic are reading the same court in opposite ways — Strasbourg calls it a defender of justice; Washington calls it biased — and the prize lands squarely in the middle of that fight.