Australia among 93 countries in show of support for ICC

Australia has joined almost 100 other countries to sign a statement in support of the International Criminal Court.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed the move on Saturday after Belgium, Jordan, Chile, Senegal and Slovenia initiated the statement.

"Australia is among 93 countries reiterating our commitment to the independence of the International Criminal Court," she wrote on social media platform X.

Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Japan, Germany and France also committed to the statement.

"As States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, we uphold that the Court, its officials and staff shall carry out their professional duties as international civil servants without intimidation," the pledge read.

"The ICC, as the world's first and only permanent international criminal court, is an essential component of the international peace and security architecture.

"We therefore call on all States to ensure full co-operation with the Court for it to carry out its important mandate of ensuring equal justice for all victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression, grave crimes that threaten the peace, security and well-being of the world."

The Rome Statute was the treaty that established the International Criminal Court in 1998.

Earlier this month, Senator Wong defended Australia's vote in support of Palestine at the United Nations and the role of the International Criminal Court.

The three-stage offer called for a ceasefire, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and Gaza's reconstruction.

Weeks earlier, Opposition MPs backed Peter Dutton's call to consider boycotting the International Criminal Court after chief prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Mr Khan found there were reasonable grounds to suspect Israeli ministerial involvement in possible war crimes, including starvation and intentionally attacking civilians.

Mr Dutton branded the decision an "obvious anti-Semitic act", called for its reversal, and said withdrawing from the court in protest could not be ruled out.

However, Mr Albanese noted Australia became a party to the Rome Statute under former Liberal prime minister John Howard.

He said he was not going to "go into hypotheticals about things that haven't happened" given the court had not officially issued warrants.

Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1200 people and taking more than 200 hostages, according to local authorities.

A counter-offensive in Gaza has since killed more than 35,000 people, the local health ministry says, with many more Palestinians facing starvation as Israel chokes the flow of aid into the territory.