Hungary’s government announced Thursday that it would withdraw from the International Criminal Court, just before Prime Minister Viktor Orban was to receive his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu despite an ICC arrest warrant against him.
Orban extended an invitation to Netanyahu last November, saying Hungary would not execute the warrant, a day after the ICC issued the arrest warrant against the Israeli premier over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The announcement comes after Netanyahu arrived in Budapest early Thursday on his first trip to Europe since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza in 2023.
“Hungary exits the International Criminal Court,” Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas posted on Facebook.
“The government will initiate the withdrawal procedure on Thursday, in accordance with the constitutional and international legal framework,” he added.
A state’s withdrawal takes effect one year after the deposit of the withdrawal’s instrument — usually in the form of a formal letter declaring the pullout — with the UN Secretary General’s office.
The ICC has not yet commented on Hungary’s announcement.
So far only Burundi and the Philippines have withdrawn from the court.
Set up in 2002, the ICC, based in The Hague, seeks to prosecute individuals responsible for the world’s gravest crimes when countries are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
Backed by 125 member states, the court has a low conviction rate as the wheels of international justice grind slowly.
Since it was founded, the ICC has opened more than 30 cases for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and offences against the administration of justice.
But it has been struggling against a lack of recognition and enforcement power.
Russia is one of dozens of nations, including the United States, Israel and China, that does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC, hampering its ability to investigate their nationals.
In February, US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the court, ordering asset freezes and travel bans against ICC officials, employees and their family members.
Trump accused the institution of having undertaken “illegitimate and baseless” investigations targeting the United States and its ally Israel.
Hungary signed the Rome Statute — the international treaty that created the ICC — in 1999 and ratified it two years later during Orban’s first term in office.
However, Budapest has not promulgated the associated convention for reasons of constitutionality and therefore asserts it is not obliged to comply with ICC decisions.
AFP