The Memo: Hungary to withdraw from International Criminal Court

It was July of 1998 when nations across the world reached the historic agreement to adopt the Rome Statute and establish the legal basis for what became the International Criminal Court (ICC). Though it did not officially come into force until 2002, Hungary was one of the initial 60 signatories. However, 23 years later, the Hungarian government has announced that it will be the first EU member to leave the court. Prime Minister Viktor Orban confirmed the departure at the beginning of April, just hours after Benjamin Netanyahu – sought personally under an ICC arrest warrant – landed at Budapest airport for a spring state visit.  

While the ICC retains the authority to issue such arrest warrants and prosecute individuals facing accusations of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, member states are not officially obliged to act upon them. Though they are technically obligated to arrest and surrender those sought by the ICC for trial if present on a nation’s territory, the court's status as a judicial institution lacking its own police force (or similar enforcement body) means that such arrest warrants are at times impossible to enforce. It instead relies heavily on cooperation from member states in transferring the arrested individual to the ICC detention centre in The Hague. 

In this particular case, Hungary’s announcement of its withdrawal from the court should not have had any impact on Netanyahu’s status. As Hungary was technically still an ICC member at the time of the visit, officials were required by the court to issue an arrest, and their failure to do so is a clear sign of non-cooperation. That said,Hungary is by no means the only nation refusing to issue Netanyahu’s arrest. Germany has also indicated that it would also act in a similar fashion, and freshly elected Chancellor Friedrich Merz has shared plans to receive him without detention.