On 17 July 2025, I interviewed Decide Tomoko Akane, President of the Worldwide Felony Courtroom. It was a wide-ranging dialog through which we mentioned, amongst different issues, her priorities as President, the affect of US sanctions and Japan’s prominence in worldwide legislation. The interview has been edited and condensed for publication.
ICC President, Decide Tomoko Akane (Picture: ICC)
I start by asking Akane how she got here to be an ICC decide. She modestly attributes a lot of it to ‘likelihood’. Akane explains that after passing the bar examination in Japan, she grew to become a public prosecutor in 1982. Over the course of the subsequent 30 years, Akane served in varied Public Prosecutor Places of work, culminating in her appointment in 2012 as Public Prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Workplace. She additionally held a number of roles with a world component, together with as head of the Worldwide Cooperation Division within the Japanese Ministry of Justice between 2009 and 2010.
In 2015, the Administrative Vice Minister of Justice advisable that Akane be Japan’s candidate within the 2017 ICC judicial elections. Akane admits she ‘didn’t know a lot in regards to the ICC at the moment’ however agreed to run for election as a result of at that stage in her profession she ‘felt prepared for a brand new problem’. Akane moved from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Overseas Affairs the place, from 2016 till becoming a member of the ICC, she served as Japan’s Ambassador for Worldwide Judicial Cooperation. Along with the worldwide justice expertise she acquired from her ambassadorial function, Akane ‘learnt how worldwide tribunals actually work’ from conversations with former Japanese ICC Decide Kuniko Ozaki and different Japanese worldwide felony legislation judges (together with ECCC Decide Motoo Noguchi and former ICTY decide Chikako Taya).
As with many ICC judicial candidates coming from authorized or educational backgrounds with little or no campaigning or diplomatic expertise, the election course of got here as a shock to Akane. ‘It was horrible’. Her discomfort was exacerbated by her cultural background. ‘In Japan, there isn’t a tradition of selling oneself. So it was very tough for me.’
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In December 2017, Akane was elected to function a decide on the ICC for a time period of 9 years working from March 2018 – March 2027 and was assigned to the Pre-Trial Division. Throughout her time as a Decide in Pre-Trial Chamber II, Akane labored on numerous high-profile instances, together with the issuance of an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin within the context of the state of affairs in Ukraine. She proudly notes that almost all of the trial exercise at present on the Courtroom’s docket (Abd-Al-Rahman; Yekatom & Ngaïssona, Stated) stems from her time in Pre-Trial Chamber II along with having been a part of the Trial Chamber that just lately convicted and sentenced Al Hassan for conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity dedicated in Mali.
I ask Akane how she discovered the change from prosecutor in Japan to evaluate on the ICC. ‘The transition was very easy, professionally.’ Throughout her profession as a prosecutor, Akane had hung out prosecuting within the courts which helped her settle into her new function, as did the truth that ‘pre-trial work is considerably much like the prosecutor’s work in Japan.’ Akane was additionally comfy working with the combination of civil and customary legislation backgrounds in her judicial colleagues. ‘Japan’s historical past signifies that its authorized system relies on each civil and customary legislation. They’re combined and fused, in a great way, in a Japanese approach. So I used to be capable of bridge the divide between judges from completely different authorized backgrounds on the ICC and no less than perceive how they give thought to the problems.’ Akane identifies discovering frequent floor on various points throughout the deliberations and the language barrier – not having beforehand labored in English in home prosecutions – as the largest challenges she encountered. And whereas she was adept at navigating differing authorized backgrounds, the multitude of cultural backgrounds and influences within the judges and employees on the Courtroom took Akane unexpectedly.
Reflecting on her experiences of the Japanese and ICC techniques, Akane believes each side may study from one another. ‘The ICC may study from the quicker trials and clearer prices within the Japanese home courts, for instance, and the Japanese system may study from the ICC about find out how to pay extra consideration to victims’ rights and find out how to deal with the victims or witnesses in a trial.’
Lastly, I ask Akane what she finds probably the most rewarding a part of being a decide on the ICC. ‘It is a tough query when we face so many points, difficulties and challenges on a regular basis. However what I’d say is that we’re a wide range of employees from round 100 nations. We collect right here to pursue the identical goal, the identical purpose, and dealing along with such individuals is rewarding as a result of, you may think about, an individual from the alternative aspect of the globe tells me about their very own nation’s system and the way they take care of felony issues there and it is vitally fascinating. We study from one another every day.’
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In March 2024, the ICC judges elected Akane as President of the Courtroom for the 2024-2027 time period. I ask Akane what made her determine to place herself ahead for the function of President and what she thought she may convey to the function. ‘Working within the Pre-Trial and Trial Divisions, I learnt quite a bit and I felt I achieved one thing. However on the similar time, I needed to contribute to the way forward for the Courtroom as a result of I assumed there have been a number of issues that wanted to enhance. For instance, as at the moment there have been already some difficult points like arrest warrants issued towards ICC officers by Russia, I needed to offer security and safety for the Courtroom and its employees and to safeguard the integrity of the Courtroom’s proceedings. As to what I may convey to the function, in my assertion to the judges I instructed them I’d goal to convey stability, safety and well-being of the judges and employees. These three issues have been my priorities as a result of I assumed they have been most in danger.’
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Akane says she knew what she was getting herself into when she put her hat into the ring to be elected President in early 2024. ‘In fact. Even at the moment I knew how difficult it is likely to be. Russia had already issued arrest warrants towards me and a number of other different judges and I used to be conscious that different tough instances have been being investigated. So I may anticipate that one thing would occur within the close to future.’
Even when Akane may anticipate that ‘one thing’ would occur throughout her tenure as President, she absolutely couldn’t have anticipated as eventful and difficult a primary 18 months as she and the Courtroom have simply been via? ‘To inform the reality, after all we couldn’t foresee precisely what would occur, however I may see how tough it will be.’ I ask Akane for her reflections near the halfway level of her time period as President. ‘It’s been very, very powerful! I really feel as if I’ve already served 10 years within the function! Alternatively, it’s gone very quick as a result of so many issues occur day-after-day. So I’ve combined emotions on that, however I really feel I’ve aged 10 years.’ How has she managed to get via the assorted existential challenges the Courtroom’s needed to take care of below her Presidency? ‘With the cooperation and nice help of my Vice Presidents and judges and the employees of the Courtroom, in addition to States Events and, after all, with the Registrar and his staff and efforts made to realize our frequent purpose by the Workplace of the Prosecutor. In fact, we’re unbiased, so we’ve got not been concerned in investigative or prosecutorial actions and choices. However as one court docket, we attempt to make a dialogue with them, particularly on administrative issues.’
I ask Akane whether or not the ‘One Courtroom’ precept actually works in follow. ‘Generally it’s very tough, particularly with regards to requesting the Courtroom’s funds, as a result of there may be diverging pursuits. However after all we’ve got to consider the Courtroom as an entire. So it’s not all the time straightforward, however we’ve got been capable of construct relationship with the Workplace of the Prosecutor and with the Registry.’
I point out to Akane that one thing I mentioned with ICC Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler in a earlier interview is that trying again via the historical past of the Courtroom can provide the impression that the ICC has lurched from one disaster to a different all through its existence. Akane says she can’t converse to occasions which pre-date her arrival on the Courtroom in 2018, however agrees that since becoming a member of she has ‘witnessed a number of difficult issues and folks on the ICC really feel we’re all the time going through challenges.’ She’s clear although that ‘the largest problem the Courtroom has confronted is in entrance of us now. And we’re struggling to discover a approach, one of the simplest ways, via.’
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When Akane talks in regards to the Courtroom at present going through its ‘largest problem’ but, she is referring to US sanctions towards the ICC. On 6 February this yr, US President Donald Trump issued Govt Order 14203 empowering the US to impose sanctions associated to the ICC for partaking in ‘illegitimate and baseless actions’ focusing on America and Israel via its investigations, together with issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. EO14203 set out the US’s place that the ICC lacks jurisdiction over the US and Israel as a result of neither nation is a member of the Courtroom nor has recognised its jurisdiction.
On 13 February, the US designated the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan KC, adopted on 5 June by 4 judges: Judges Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza and Solomy Balungi Bossa for having been a part of the Appeals Chamber which in March 2020 authorised the Prosecutor to start an investigation into alleged crimes towards humanity and conflict crimes dedicated in Afghanistan; and Judges Reine Alapini-Gansou, Second Vice-President, and Beti Hohler for being a part of the Pre-Trial Chamber which in November 2024 issued warrants of arrest for Netanyahu and Gallant for crimes towards humanity and conflict crimes. On 9 July, the US designated Francesca Albanese, the UN Particular Rapporteur for Palestine, for what it known as ‘illegitimate and shameful’ efforts to push the ICC into taking motion towards US and Israeli officers and companies.
I ask Akane in regards to the affect of sanctions on the Courtroom. Akane refers me to the assorted public statements by the Courtroom, the ASP Presidency, the ASP Bureau, States Events and, specifically, her personal assertion following the issuance of the Govt Order in February. ‘As talked about in my assertion, that is the most recent in a sequence of unprecedented and escalatory assaults aiming to undermine the Courtroom’s skill to manage justice in all conditions, not simply particular conditions. These are severe assaults not simply towards the Courtroom itself, however towards the very values that the Courtroom represents and the notion of the rule of legislation. They should be taken critically.’
Seeing judges designated was notably stunning to Akane. ‘Judges are very completely different from the Prosecutor by way of their function and their independence. They’re extra ‘passive’ within the sense that they don’t determine who, what or the place to research; they obtain an software from the Prosecutor and so they determine it on the idea of the legislation and the proof. So I used to be very upset by these coercive measures.’
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I ask Akane what, if something, the Courtroom can do to avert additional US sanctions. In his assertion on the current ASP Particular Session on the Evaluate of the Amendments on the Crime of Aggression, US State Division Authorized Adviser Reed Rubinstein was unequivocal about what it will take for the sanctions to cease: ‘we anticipate all ICC actions towards the US and our ally Israel – that’s, all investigations and all arrest warrants – to be terminated.’ His message on the implications if that doesn’t occur was equally stark: ‘If not, all choices stay on the desk.’
Akane responds that it’s not what the Courtroom can do however moderately what States Events can do. ‘The ICC is a world organisation which was created by States and that’s why the survival of the ICC will depend on its States Events. I want to depend on their assist to the ICC and I name on them to consider how to make sure the Courtroom can proceed working.’ I ask her to make clear this level; in spite of everything, it was the Courtroom not States Events who issued the arrest warrants and choices which the US so vehemently opposes. Akane explains it was States Events that negotiated the provisions of the Rome Statute and the Courtroom merely ‘applies the legislation because it stands’.
I ask whether or not, leaving apart the broader ramifications and penalties of such a step, a possible sanctions ‘off-ramp’ is likely to be to amend the legislation – i.e. the Rome Statute – to resolve the irreconcilable rigidity between the provisions of the Rome Statute, which expressly present that the ICC has jurisdiction over people from non-States Events in sure conditions, and the US’s basic opposition to the ICC exercising jurisdiction over non-States Events who haven’t accepted the Courtroom’s jurisdiction. Akane performs the query with a straight bat. ‘I’m not able to reply this, as a result of amending the Rome Statute is a choice for States Events and I’m not a States Events consultant. What I can say is that we’re coping with instances that are simply politicised, however we [the Court] usually are not. We simply abide by the Rome Statute. I can’t say any extra as a result of the Rome Statute is the product of States Events. It was the States who created it, so that is for them to determine.’
One other potential off-ramp that has been mooted in some quarters is a deferral of sure ICC investigations involving non-States Events by the UN Safety Council below Article 16 of the Rome Statute. I ask Akane for her views however she once more declines to be drawn. ‘I can’t remark. Article 16 is definitely a difficulty for the Safety Council to determine and never the Courtroom and even States Events. However after all I’m conscious of the existence of Article 16 within the Rome Statute.’
Trying forward, I ask Akane whether or not the Courtroom can survive US sanctions and what message it will ship if it might’t. ‘At this second the ICC is the one everlasting worldwide judicial physique tasked with pursuing felony accountability of people and never States. If the ICC have been to break down, that will signify the defeat of the battle towards impunity. There isn’t any approach {that a} related establishment could possibly be rebuilt sooner or later. The institution of the ICC was a miracle on the time. Essentially, if the ICC collapses, the notion of the rule of legislation will probably be shattered into items and it’ll grow to be the rule of energy. The victims of atrocities across the globe will probably be left with none hope. You possibly can see on TV or within the media that there are such a lot of victims struggling due to wars and crimes towards humanity. In fact, we can’t do every thing, and that’s the reason complementarity should work. However with out the Courtroom, complementarity wouldn’t work very properly.’
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I ask Akane in regards to the private {and professional} toll of being positioned on Russia’s arrest warrant listing or susceptible to US sanctions. ‘It is a very often requested query. For me, really, the affect is proscribed as a result of I knew from the start that we judges all the time face these sorts of dangers from the political aspect. It’s type of an anticipated threat and if a decide doesn’t have a robust want to serve justice, they can not proceed being a decide.’ I point out to Akane that former ICC President Piotr Hofmański gave virtually precisely the identical reply in an earlier interview. Akane isn’t shocked. ‘Lots of my colleagues have mentioned the identical factor. They’re very courageous individuals.’
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I return to the notion of the Courtroom as being in a everlasting state of disaster. Russian arrest warrants; US sanctions; cyber-attacks of unprecedented scale and class; the Prosecutor on administrative go away whereas an exterior investigation is carried out into allegations of misconduct towards him; severe issues about office tradition usually on the Courtroom. It’s straightforward to conclude that the ICC is in disaster each externally and internally.
However there’s probably one other extra constructive narrative too. On the day I meet with Akane, we’ve simply come from a ceremony to welcome Ukraine because the one hundred and twenty fifth State Social gathering to the Rome Statute; within the final 12 months the Courtroom has convicted three people of worldwide crimes (Al Hassan, Yekatom and Ngaïssona) with a possible fourth conviction (Abd-Al-Rahman) earlier than the top of the yr; in March former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte was arrested and surrendered to the Courtroom to face trial; and simply the day earlier than we converse a Libyan nationwide, El Hishri, was detained in Germany pursuant to an ICC arrest warrant.
I ask Akane which of those narratives she thinks will show to be right. ‘As a lot as current occasions represent severe obstacles for the Courtroom, we should not overlook that these are a part of a broader effort to assault normative frameworks and establishments that kind an important a part of the world order. I’ve mentioned earlier than that we’re at a turning level. However which path we are going to flip to largely will depend on the actions of States. We will, after all, abandon the concept of the rule of legislation if States want, or of justice, and revert to a world primarily based on the rule of energy. Nonetheless, I firmly consider that by taking decided motion collectively, united by our unwavering dedication to worldwide norms and worldwide justice, we are able to additional strengthen our collective bond and the rules-based system that we’ve got constructed. I firmly consider justice should and can prevail. With out such dedication or will, we can’t stand.’
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Akane talked about earlier in our interview that bettering the well-being of the Courtroom’s employees is a precedence for her as President. I ask her whether or not she believes the Courtroom’s office tradition has improved below her tenure, noting that the Prosecutor is at present on go away pending the conclusion of an exterior investigation by the United Nations Workplace of Inner Oversight Providers into alleged misconduct. Akane is unable to touch upon the allegations towards the Prosecutor whereas the investigation is ongoing, however emphasises how a lot she values the Courtroom’s employees: ‘My motto is that the employees is the Courtroom’s actual treasure. With out our employees we can’t obtain something.’ Akane says the Courtroom is ‘working laborious to enhance issues’ and factors to the outcomes of a current employees survey which present ’there’s nonetheless a number of work to be finished, but in addition a pattern in direction of a greater office tradition, particularly within the judiciary.’
Along with issues in regards to the Courtroom’s inside office tradition, Akane is frightened in regards to the affect of exterior occasions such because the cyber-attacks, Russian arrest warrants and US sanctions on the well-being of the Courtroom’s employees. ‘Due to the difficulties we’ve got confronted to this point, the employees can’t foresee the longer term very clearly and that could be a supply of tension and vulnerability which impacts their well-being. We are going to deal with the employees as a lot as we are able to and I actually respect these States who’re additionally taking good care of their very own nationals working on the Courtroom.’
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I conclude by asking Akane about Japan’s prominence in worldwide legislation. With Decide Yuji Iwasawa’s election as President on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice earlier this yr, and Akane’s election as President on the ICC, each everlasting worldwide courts now have Japanese presidents.
I ask Akane what she thinks this says about Japan, the function of worldwide legislation in Japan and Japan’s function in worldwide legislation. ‘That is very important for Japan and the Japanese individuals. I’ve identified Mr Iwasawa personally for a very long time, and I respect and admire his work as an instructional and worldwide decide. After his election because the ICJ President, Mr Iwasawa was chased by Japanese media, precisely the identical as once I was elected President of the ICC. It’s mentioned that Japan has upheld the rule of legislation as a coverage of Japanese diplomacy within the Pacific Ocean and Asia, and likewise with different nations. Japan needs to be a pacesetter of the area in selling the rule of legislation. And that’s what the Japanese authorities have finished for a very long time – for instance by serving to Asia and different areas with authorized help as part of ODA and by displaying good examples within the Japanese home courts. So, I consider that the election of myself and Mr Iwasawa as President on the ICC and ICJ respectively reveals that many individuals on this planet respect Japan’s perspective in direction of selling and defending worldwide legislation and the rule of legislation.’
Cowl photograph: ICC Everlasting Premises in The Hague, the Netherlands (Picture: ICC)
