Legislation adopted by the US House of Representatives last week sanctioning the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague could endanger Dutch police and justice officials if passed by the Senate, experts say.

The legislation would sanction “any individual working to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute American citizens or an official from an allied US country, including Israel,” as well as their family members.

They would also cover “anyone who has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of any effort by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute a protected person”.

According to an analysis by the Volkskrant, the Netherlands runs a particular risk, given that it hosts the ICC and that everyone who has been arrested ends up on Dutch soil. Although detention is up to the court, everything between Schiphol airport and the 12 ICC cells at Scheveningen jail is the responsibility of the Netherlands.

The Netherlands also provides operational support, including security and access to suspects and witnesses.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The “Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act” is a reaction to those warrants but would also apply to other authoritarian regimes with good relationships with the US, including the Gulf States, Egypt, Pakistan, and the Philippines, the paper said.

Although much is up to the interpretation of the law, “Dutch officials do run a risk,” Amsterdam international law professor André Nollkaemper told the Volkskrant.

“Dutch officials risk potential danger,” said Human Rights Watch’s Elizabeth Evenson. “But we don’t know how the sanctions will be used until they actually are.”

The legislation still has to be approved by the Senate, and given the current political climate in the US and Donald Trump’s second presidential term, that is likely to happen.

Rejection call

Nevertheless, UN experts have urged the Senate tor reject the legislation. “The passage of a bill that creates a blind spot for justice regarding certain countries not only legalises double standards and impunity but irreparably undermines the spirit of universality that the international justice system is built upon,” they said.

Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof told reporters on Friday that the cabinet is considering what to do about the US position. “The ICC is an important institution, and it is important that the institution continues to function,” he said.

Trump’s first administration imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020 in response to investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, including allegations of torture. Those sanctions included visa restrictions on the families of ICC officials and were condemned as “very disturbing” by then foreign minister Stef Blok.