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Judge never reconsidered working at ICC despite sanctions

ICJ The Hague
The US accuses ICC of infringing its sovereignty

"Absolutely not. Never for a moment. Never for a second."

Kimberly Prost, a Canadian judge sanctioned by the United States, says she has never reconsidered working at the International Criminal Court (ICC), even though it has led to her being shut out from most of the international banking system.

The US accuses ICC of infringing its sovereignty, given that it does not recognise its jurisdiction but the court has undertaken an investigation into possible war crimes in Afghanistan, including US troops.

Being sanctioned has not made Judge Prost blink.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1's This Week, she said: "I believe so much in the mission of this court to bring this justice through fair trial processes. And I can assure you that, while it's painful... nothing has affected the way we do our jobs."

That said, the effects of the sanctions on Judge Prost were immediate and far reaching - including losing access to credit cards, online shopping, airline and hotel booking systems.

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"All credit cards are cancelled immediately. No matter where they were issued, whether they issued in the Netherlands or Canada, they can no longer function once you're sanctioned because of the influence of the United States in the financial context."

That was only the beginning of it.

"Amazon was the first one to notify me that my account had been cancelled. And then I suppose the most traumatic moment was then I went home, wasn't even thinking about it, and spoke to Alexa, who would not speak to me," she said.

The judge's digital shutdown continued: "Other things followed from that - whether it be on my emails or other types of services, inability to use certain booking companies, that kind of thing."

Judge Prost found out that, even though the sanctions don't apply to European companies, some complied just to ensure they didn't fall foul of the US: "That happens. Banks just simply say: We don't want the trouble, our American component or investments or whatever it may be, our business is important to us."

The reach of the sanctions even extends to New Zealand where a company attempting to book a hotel for the judge triggered a red flag. Her name was enough to cause a problem - they were not attempting to use her EU debit card which has some limited functions.

"We must fight hard to defend it now, fight harder."

"It's really frustrating because it's unpredictable when that's going to come... in a context where there doesn't seem to be an American role," she said.

She added: "There's a number of situations where you simply have no choice, but to use cash. That certainly happened to me when I was travelling in New Zealand. You had to resort to cash."

Eight judges and three prosecutors at the ICC are all in the same boat.

"I was sanctioned because five years ago, [when] sitting temporarily in the Appeals Chamber... I unanimously, with my four colleagues, we authorised the prosecutor to investigate the situation of allegations of these crimes in Afghanistan," said Judge Prost.

That included "alleged crimes by the Taliban, by Afghan forces or other forces, and there was a component relating to the United States".

"And as a result of that, I was sanctioned," she said.

Despite international law being side-lined in ongoing conflicts around the world, Judge Prost believes that the ICC will endure and will be a force for good.

"I'm confident this is a difficult time, but we will come through it, and we will eventually progress again... It's too important to in any way abandon. And if anything, we must fight hard to defend it now, fight harder. "

Judge Prost hopes the sanctions will be lifted at the end of her nine-year term at the ICC, but accepts it is "not clear" that will actually happen.

Until the sanctions are lifted unilaterally, or following a legal process, Judge Prost will have to continue to live with the frustration of sanctions.

"Frustration would be the real word for it, because every day something happens and you think, okay, how am I going to deal with this? And it's the uncertainty," she said.

The judge recently tried to transfer some funds as a wedding present for a young couple but "it's blocked still somewhere in the system."

Despite it all, there is absolutely no sign that is going to get in the way of the work of the ICC.

"We are here together at the court. We work on the issues as best we can... We're resilient."